Ascension
by Ulstem
Summary: The battle at the Department of Mysteries went differently for Harry. Trapped in a new time and being the last wizard alive, Harry must find a way home. Soon Harry must decide if he should stay and help fight the oncoming evil or return to save the ones he loves.- Pre-ME1 to Pre-ME2. No pairings decided yet, but I may change this later on.
1. CH 1- It Could Only Get Worse

**AN**: I regretfully do not own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. JK Rowling Bioware (and any other owners) get that honor. Thank you all for creating worlds that many of us love.

First attempt at a story so I hope everyone enjoys. The pace will be a bit slow at first since I don't want to rush my story. It will pick up more and more as the chapters progress.

**Ch. 1**

The soft blue glow of the orbs on the surrounding shelves cast an eerie light on the group. Harry was leading at the front of his group of friends. Hermione and Luna were close by with Ron, Neville, and Ginny bringing up the rear. They were scanning through the shelves looking through the outlines for any other people among them. So far, they had spotted no one. Harry had led his friends here to the Department of Mysteries to save his Godfather, Sirius Black. When the vision from Voldemort came he saw that Sirius was going to die. So he acted. He feared that the delay caused by Umbridge and the flight here made him too late. He was his last chance to get away from the Dursleys. He was his last chance for a family and a father.

_What if Sirius is already dead? _Harry thought to himself.

"Harry!"

Harry turned at Hermione's voice to see her staring at one of the blue orbs. He moved closer to her.

"This one has your name on it." She said as he drew closer.

He read the little tag attached to the orb. "SPT to APWBD, Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter" was written on the tag. He impulsively reached his hand out to grab it, but felt a Hermione's hand grab his wrist.

"Harry, you should probably not touch it. Who knows what protections the ministry has put on it to prevent theft."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I really don't think the Fudge and his lackeys are going to worry about me picking up a ball after we have just broken into the Department of Mysteries."

"Well, we at least have a perfectly good reason for that, but this could be considered theft! We might get into real trouble then!"

"Hermione, we, organized and 'illegal' organization at Hogwarts, abandoned Umbridge to the devices of the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forrest, and broke into the Department of Mysteries to rescue the fugitive Sirius Black. What more trouble could we be in?"

It could only get worse.

"Oh, you are already in more trouble than you could imagine."

Harry whirled around, raising his wand, and pointing it at where the voice came from. He saw a man in black robes and a Death Eater mask. Despite the disguise, he knew that voice anywhere.

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Ah, I'm glad you remember me Potter. It has been some time since our last little get together in Little Hangleton. As I recall, your friend didn't fare so well there, did he? Now, if you'll be so kind as to give me that prophesy."

"Why would I do anything for you?" said Harry, now understanding what the orb was "And what concern is this prophesy to you?"

"It is not on my behalf that you will give me that prophesy, but your friends. You see Harry, if you do not hand me that prophesy, then we will have to hurt you and your friends here. Wouldn't want to be responsible for another Cedric now would we?"

Harry looked behind him and noticed the others were surrounded by at least seven other Death Eaters that he could see. His friends had their wands drawn and were in a circle with their backs to each other. He was glad that some of the combat lessons from DA were showing now.

"Why don't you just take it for yourself? No one here is going to stop you?" spat Harry, angrily.

"Why if it were that simple we would have done so long ago. No, you must be the one to take it off the shelf, boy. Do it now or else your friends will begin to understand the meaning of _pain._" Lucius hissed the last word.

Harry had to think quickly. Not seeing any good options, he began thinking of ways to get his friends out of there. "If I give it to you, can you swear to me that you will let us go and release Sirius Black to us?"

Lucius and the other Death Eaters began to laugh.

"_Foolish_ child." Lucius chuckled "You pathetic godfather isn't here! It was all to lure you here by the Dark Lord. All of your efforts are in vain. Now hand me the prophesy, now!"

Harry looked back at his friends and met Ron's eyes. They stared for a moment before Harry mouthed "Run". In the low light of the room, the Death Eaters could not make out the exchange. Ron slightly nodded his head. Harry lowered his wand and made to walk over to the shelf. He began to move his left hand towards the prophesy while pointing his wand at the lowest shelf.

"Reducto!"

As soon as Harry cast the spell, he and his group sprinted towards the doors leaving behind the shocked Death Eaters. Again, Harry thanked the stars that they had taken the time to work on teamwork shelf began to collapse and prophesies on the upper shelves began raining down on the Dark Lord's followers. A cacophony of eerie voices and faint, smoky wisps began rising from the shattered orbs. As the group ran Harry began blasting out more of the lower supports for the shelves as they ran. Ginny and Luna seeing this started to do the same.

"Stick together!" Harry cried over the din of sound around them. He was worried about the mess that he got his friends into. He could not, no, would not let anything happen to them. They were racing towards the first door they could find. Harry wrenched it open and ushered the others inside. He rushed in and closed it behind him. Hermione immediately began casting what locking charms she knew on it. Looking around, Harry saw that they were back in the Time room, the ticking of all the clocks and various time devices replacing the breaking glass and ghostly voices of the previous chamber. The group began retracing the steps they took earlier to reach the Hall of Prophecies. As they were about halfway to the door leading to the central chamber, the door to the Hall of Prophesies was blown off its hinges by a terrible blast.

"Run!" cried Harry. As they made their way to the exit, the streaks of spells flew past them. Harry noticed, with a feeling of dread in his stomach, that some of them were a deathly green. Some of the devices around them started exploding upon being struck by an errant spell. Harry was showered in the dust and glass of a timer turner as it burst from a bright purple hex barely missing him. Harry was blindly returning blasting hexes behind him as he ran. He heard a man cry in pain behind him and knew that one of them must have struck true. The group was drawing closer to their escape when Harry felt his legs suddenly seize up and he fell forward. He was able to soften most of the impact with his left hand, but felt a sharp pain there as well. Looking up, he saw that most of his friends made it through the door. Luna turned to see Harry on the floor several meters away from the door.

"Harry!" she cried.

"Just run!"

"No, I won't leave you!"

Harry looked pleadingly into her eyes.

"Please, don't let anyone else die for me."

She hesitated towards him. Then, with eyes moist with unshed tears, she nodded, turned, and closed the door behind her.

Harry turned to face the on-coming death eaters. He quickly cast a _finite_ on his legs and rolled to his right just as two piercing charms impacted the ground he had occupied. He sprang up and ran among the shelves.

"Your friends have abandoned you, boy." spoke a female Death Eater.

"No, I wanted them to leave. They made the right call." Harry said shakily.

"You think that now, but dying alone is so much more painful." She said, casting another purple spell towards Harry. He rolled away from this one, and came up casting a shield charm. A red charm impacted it and broke it, sending Harry back several paces. He sprinted sideways into the shelves again.

"Your aim isn't so good." Harry said once he had recovered his breath.

"Perhaps I am just toying with my prey before I devour it? It isn't sporting to simply kill you and be done with it. Besides, the Dark Lord wants you for himself. "

More devices and clocks burst around him as two other death eaters launched a volley into the shelf that Harry hid behind. Harry returned with two Reductos, pumping as much of his anger into he could. One of the Death Eaters managed to leap out of the way while the other was caught in the chest, bursting through his hastily case shield. Another Death Eater cried out in anguish.

"Goyle!"

The brute of a death eater pointed his wand towards Harry and cried "Bombarda!"

Harry was just able to cry "Protego Duo!" before the impact.

The explosion that followed shattered the shelves all around Harry. A bright flash forced him to shut his eyes, but he could still see the light through his eyelids. The roar of the explosion was deafening. Harry noticed that his shield had not failed, however, and he felt no heat from the explosion.

Soon, the light and sound faded and the deafening silence that followed scared Harry more than everything else that night.


	2. CH 2- They had no right to

**AN: Still don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. I'm grateful their owners made their stories and would totally shake their hands/ hug them for doing so.**

I originally considered giving little explanation for what happens to the wizarding world because in all likelihood Harry wouldn't be able to find out as much as he will. I decided to give some answers for things, but left a lot of questions purposefully unanswered.

Another thing I want to point out is I am going to try and avoid the Boy-who-lived-and-could-do-everything type of Harry. He will learn some new stuff along his journey, maybe his "power he knows not", but he is not perfect and that is why he is a good hero for his story. Keeping the little flaws here and there make him human.

Finally, in writing some of the later chapters (proofing them, will post in near future) I realized how much we do not know about the ME universe and had a blast making up stuff to fill in the gaps.

**CH2**

Quiet.

His ears ached from the boom of the explosion and the roaring sound that followed. Now all he could notice was how dreadfully quiet it was. Harry, for a brief moment, feared he had gone deaf from the sound, but his own labored breath soon dispelled that notion. He quickly opened his eyes and could not see even the outline of his hand it was so dark.

He waited where he was, counting his heartbeats until he was certain that there was no left around him.

_"No one alive anyhow."_

When he felt it was safe he raised his wand and quietly spoke "Lumos". The soft light of his wand filled the area around him. He noticed that the shelves around him were still intact. However, they were empty and covered in a layer of dirt and grime. Something felt off about the set up. He looked around him and found that the shelves weren't in the places he remembered them. He had been crouched behind one for cover when the explosion happened, but the nearest to him was now a meter away. He began to shift his vision around the room, looking for any possible survivors. He had hoped there would not be any as he did not think he had any strength left to fight any more tonight.

As he was looking around, he noticed that the door to the Hall of Prophecies was intact again. This, combined with the state of the room around him, sent a chill of worry down his back. Once again a pit in his stomach seemed to grow and his heart raced. He tried to calm himself. Taking in a few deep breaths to still the thrumming in his chest, he realized the air in the room had a stale dry smell to it; it was as if it had not been opened in some time. He looked at his feet and noticed the ground around him was much the same as the shelves, covered in dirt and grime. Only one word could describe the room he was in.

Ruin.

Finally, after calming himself and steeling his resolve, he made his way to the door leading out to the central chamber.

It was locked.

"Damn." Harry grumbled, bringing his wand to bear on the lock. "Alohamora" he said. He didn't hear the tell tale click of a lock coming undone. Peering down at the lock again and bringing his lit wand tip closer to it, he observed that the lock appeared to be thoroughly rusted. He moved a few paces away from the door raised his wand and cried "Reducto!" The curse blew the door in several meters to the central chamber, leaving only stray bits of wood attached to the iron hinges of the door. He made his way through the door into more blackness.

As the light of his wand revealed more of the central chamber, Harry saw more of what he expected; dirt, grime, and a feeling of dread that was creeping into the ever widening pit of worry in Harry. He looked around the central chamber, trying to recall the way back to the atrium. He went to the first door on the right and was rewarded with the Hallway that had haunted his dreams all last term. He slowly made his way through the blackness. He noticed sconces on the walls and tried lighting some with the Blue Bell Flame charm that Hermione insisted they learn.

"Honestly, how can you not see the practical uses for such as spell after our first year?" Hermione's voice spoke in Harry's thoughts.

His efforts were rewarded with a sustained flame that helped to fill the hallway with soft light. Considering the darkness in the building was disconcerting, he decided to light some as he went. He made his way as best he could towards the lift, lighting sconces along the way. He finally made it to the lift to go up the floor to the Atrium. It did not take him long to realize the button to summon the lift did nothing.

"What was I expecting?" He said to himself. "Place looks like it has been abandoned for a hundred years..."

The weight of his statement came crashing down on him like an avalanche. He mind spun, trying to reject the impact of this realization.

"No… just…no!" Harry realized he was yelling out loud when his voice started echoing back to him, seemingly trying to offer its own reassurance.

_"It can't be…"_ No, he didn't have enough information yet. Listen to the facts.

_"You don't know anything yet. This could be a trick by the Death Eaters."_

He capped off his emotions at this point. This was one of the only skills he managed to learn after Snape had stopped their Occlumency lessons. Luna, oddly enough (or normally enough considering) had a text on the subject that he started reading called Mental Mastery for the Marauding Marmaduke by M.M. Michelson.

"Father insisted I study this in order to prevent the Heliopaths from sneaking into my mind and stealing all my knowledge from me. Imagine what they could do with my information on Nargles! The entire ministry could be covered in mistletoe within a year! I do suspect our potions professor of working with them sometimes." Harry recalled her saying in her airy voice.

Unfortunately he never got past a novice's ability of some emotional control before tonight. He couldn't use this ability all the time to "Clear his mind" as Snape insisted and his magic seemed to work best when he fueled it with his feelings. Now however, his emotions threatened overwhelm him. He forced the cap down and cold analysis took over.

Making his way back down the hall he took the first door to his left to the stairway. Harry saw more dirt, more grime, and now rust on the rails. He started his slow trek up one floor to the Atrium. Upon reaching the top, blasting another stubborn door, he found himself standing in the Atrium. Allowing some of fear to come through his plug, he twisted it into his magic and cried "Lumos Maxima!"

A ball of bright light flew into the air like a flare before suddenly stopping. It hung there, filling the main hall of the Atrium with a bright light. After his eyes adjusted to the intense light, he looked around and saw rubbish littering the floors. Looking down at his own feet he saw clippings of what he thought must have been muggle newspaper as the pictures were still. He began to walk around the Atrium, now very familiar with it as he had only been here a small number of times; his last memory of it being the farce of a trial at start of this year. He looked towards where the statue of Magical Brethren should have been. Instead, he was presented with a cold bronze statue of a witch and wizard standing atop what looked to be people in muggle clothing. Harry's emotions itched behind the cover he had put across them, but it remained firm. He continued to look around and saw another landmark he recognized as Ministry Munchies. As he drew closer, he noticed the sign now read "Pure Pastries". In a stack on the counter was a neglected pile of newspapers. He gently picked up the top paper, careful not to rip the decayed parchment it was printed on. _The Purity Prophet _was written across the top in stylized lettering. Underneath confirmed more of Harry's fears.

_March 11, 2079._

Harry's fear and panic attempted to slam against the shield he had put in place, causing Harry's hands to shake. He accidentally ripped the decayed paper in half trying to regain his composure. Breathing slowly, Harry was able to stuff his feelings back under the cover. Dropping the pieces in his hands, he picked up another in a stack. The headline, written in bold, said:

**_Ministry to Close_**

_In a move that we at the Prophet have predicted for some time, the Ministry is closing its offices and annexes as of tomorrow, March 12. The Department of Enforcement and Compliance has stated it will keep a small volunteer force of Aurors available via floo call if an emergency is to arise. All other offices are to be closed, all remaining employees have been dismissed, and the entrances to the Ministry Offices are to be sealed._

_Keeper of Magic Edmund Malfoy had this to say:_

_"This has been a hard decision for all of us. We do not make it lightly. We cannot, however, justify keeping our offices open when there are so few of us to even govern anymore."_

_As we all know, the Keeper is referring to the declining magical population in Britain and the rest of the world._

_The Ministry also has a few parting regulations that they want all of the citizens to abide by._

_1. Use of unforgivables without a permit against a wizard is still strictly forbidden. All currently held permits will no longer expire at the end of the year and will not require renewal. No new permits will be processed._

_2._ _Statute of Secrecy laws are still in effect. However their will not be an Obliviator Squad to handle any exposures. Any memory charms necessary should be handled by the offending witch/wizard. If one does not know said charms, then reasonable discretion should be used to silence the muggle involved._

_3._ _Floos are no longer being connected by the Ministry._

_4._ _All previously confiscated class R materials will not be returned._

_5._ _Before you expire, please release all House Elves, owls, and other magical creatures under your care. Please ensure that any carnivorous or otherwise deadly animated plants are incinerated._

_We at the Pure Prophet are using this time to announce that this will be the last edition of our esteemed publication. We have enjoyed bringing you the truth into your daily lives._

…Numb.

That was the best description of how Harry felt. It was as if his mind was taking in the information, but not really allowing it to process in order to protect his now fragile psyche. He let the paper fall to the ground, adding to the carpet of garbage on the ground. He slowly sat down and pulled his knees to his chest. Wrapping his arms around them he silently stared into the shadows. Shadows that he feared were not, and would never again be filled with another living soul.

Harry awoke some time later to total darkness. At first, he thought that his whole experience, from the Hall of Prophecies to the dreaded newspaper, were all just a dream. The stale smell of age and decay struck him with the reality of his situation. He was not certain how long he had been out when he came to as he had no good way of telling time.

_"Time."_ Harry groaned internally.

Sitting up in the dark atrium he suddenly felt the aches and pains in his body from the whole night. His left wrist felt as if it had a small break from his fall and his body felt sore all over. Casting a quick Lumos he looked around his immediate area. He found a glass jar sitting in the ground. Taking it, he cast a blue bell flame into it, giving himself a makeshift lamp. He then pointed his wand at his left wrist and said "Episkey". A quick pop and a stab of pain later he felt instant relief.

He decided he now needed to make a plan. He sat there quietly, staring off into the soft blue flames in the bottle. He put the cover back on his emotions and started thinking.

_"What do I need right now? Well for starters some water and a pain relieving potion would be nice. Not sure about the potion, but water I can do."_

Harry took a pile of paper around him and transfigured them into a bottle. He then conjured some water inside of it and sat back drinking it. He always could tell if the water was conjured as it had no taste that natural water had. What did Hermione compare it to, distilled? Feeling like he at least managed a small victory, he began thinking again.

_"I need to get out of here."_

This was a problem however. He quickly realized that he had no idea why Wizards were gone, what things were like out there, and he didn't have any resources or supplies. The only thing he knew was that he was alone in this. This thought threatened to pry of his emotional seal again. Slamming it down again, he quickly stood up with is makeshift lamp.

_"I've got to keep busy." _He thought to himself.

He made his way to the sign by Atrium Elevator. He knew what he was looking for.

_Ministry Archives/ Information Regulation- level 4_

Heading back over to the stairs, he started the trek up to level 4. His muscles protested his journey up, but he continued on regardless. He was able to shoulder the door open on this floor (much to the consternation of said shoulder) and made his way down the hallway that he found himself in. Holding up his lamp, he inspected each door. He came upon that said _Newsprint Archives._ Harry made his way inside. He found several cabinets lining the walls. He could make out the labels on them. He came upon a cabinet labeled _Daily Prophet 1995-2005._ He pulled hard on the top drawer until it came free. He noticed that inside the papers were in like new condition.

_"Really good preservation charms I guess."_

He started leafing through until he came across the June 19, 1996 issue. The main Headline read:

**_Sirius Black Killed Attempting to Break Into the Department of Mysteries._**

_Insane fugitive Sirius Black, who escaped Azkaban prison two years prior, was killed by Lucius Malfoy inside the Department of Mysteries. According to Mr. Malfoy the fugitive was aiding known fugitive Bellatrix Lestrange at attempting to kill Harry Potter, who is believed to have been in the Department for some reason that night. While Lestrange and her accomplices escaped, Black was stopped by Malfoy in the fire fight._

_Our readers should also note that Albus Dumbledore and several accomplices were on the scene with Harry Potter. An inside source claims that they may have used Harry Potter as bait in an elaborate attempt to lure Black into the open. This writer believes that this was a move by Dumbledore to regain credibility in the Ministry._

_Regretfully Mr. Potter died in an explosion in the Department of Mysteries. We would like to extend our thanks to Mr. Malfoy for stopping such a dangerous fugitive and avenging Mr. Potter's death. We also ask if Dumbledore has been allowed too much privilege to allow sacrificing the Boy-who –lived for his own machinations._

_-R. Skeeter_

Harry again allowed the numbness to creep over him. He put the paper back in the cabinet and continued to look at several of the headlines in the cabinet.

**_Dumbledore Sacked! Malfoy Named Headmaster of Hogwarts_**

**_New Educational Decrees Improve Wizarding Society_**

**_Fudge Loses Re-Election, Pius Thicknesse New Minister_**

**_Wizengamot Approves Magical Creature Regulation Provisions_**

**_New School for Muggleborns Approved_**

**_Dumbledore Charged with Treason!_**

**_Rebellion!_**

**_Daily Prophet Under New Administration, Welcome the Pure Prophet!_**

**_Magical Purity Verification Act Approved_**

...on and on they went.

Harry had been reading for a couple of hours and went through several years of papers. He couldn't believe the terrible things he was reading. He gathered that Dumbledore and the Order had attempted to rescue him and his friends that night at the Department of Mysteries and Sirius Black died in the attempt. Somehow Lucius was able to spin it to the press that he was there to stop Black and look like the hero. After Harry's supposed death, Dumbledore was not found suitable to be for the position of Headmaster and somehow Lucius was able to ride the wave of popularity to the position. Harry had no doubt that life for non-pureblooded and "blood traitor" witches and wizards became hell at Hogwarts. Harry didn't know who Thicknesse was. However, the further he read, the more he suspected he was puppet of Voldemort. The passing of the Creature Regulations, the new "school", and the Purity Verification act all pointed at the Death Eaters taking complete control. It came as no surprise later when Dumbledore and the members of the Order of the Phoenix were later charged with treason. Harry wondered if they went underground at this point as he didn't see anything about a capture or trial.

The rebellion came as no surprise to him. Harry was able to stay awake long enough in Binn's class to hear all about the Goblin Rebellions. The Creature Regulations attempted to remove control of Gringotts from the Goblin tribes. The magical world's financial institution locked its doors and all withdrawals from the bank ceased. The article stated that the Ministry was preparing a force to deal with the Goblins.

Harry had expected the change of the newspaper from what he could tell from the paper he read in the Atrium. He wondered if the Prophet could get any more slanted than it was already. He was disappointed when he read the praises of the Wizengamot for the Magical Purity Verification act. All witches and wizards were being required to submit proof of their lineage. All muggleborns and half-bloods were having assets seized since "they do not contribute as fully to the wizarding society and economy as esteemed Pure-Blood families. As such they will be assessed taxes based on their degree of wizarding blood." Harry wondered how many good people had their livelihoods taken from them and how many pure-blood pockets were lined with gold after this passed. Harry suspected that this was a move to prop up the ministry and pure-bloods as most all of their assets were locked up in Gringotts.

Harry moved to the next cabinet for the next few years. He started skimming the articles now, trying to find relevant information on what happened to the Wizards. Harry saw that a Ministry force raided Gringotts. The fight was going badly apparently until lo and behold Tom M. Riddle joined the fight. Harry looked at the photograph, still and lifeless, and saw that Voldemort had indeed looked human now. He wondered how he had managed such as feat, but admitted it was the perfect disguise as few knew of his alias. Harry suspected that most that did probably weren't around to speak of it. Voldemort was able to wipe out the Goblins and was awarded with the Order of Merlin, first class for his efforts. He had now established himself as quite the hero and none were the wiser.

Further reading revealed that the International Council of Wizards had started adopting Britain's new agenda and muggleborns across the globe were starting to be oppressed. This, however, sparked the first of a series of rebellions of muggleborn and half-blood resistances. The ICW, now seemingly under control of Blood Purists, countered with what amounted to magical concentration camps. Harry would bet all the gold in Gringotts it wasn't much different in intent from Germany's in WW2.

The war seemed to continue to escalate over the years and the Ministry seemed to grow more totalitarian in its power. They started confiscating all magical books and artifacts from even the older families, all under the guise of informational regulation. Harry figured that this was Tom's attempt at preventing anyone else from gaining too much power magically. Harry suspected these books were still kept here under lock and key. He decided to look into this later.

Harry felt sick after reading the next headline.

**_Final Solution Implemented_**

In this article, the Pure Prophet again praised the Wizengamot for finally ridding the world of the muggleborn menace. The Pure-Bloods had completed a ritual that affected the entire globe. It magically sterilized the magical population except for the Pure-Bloods. All children born to any existing person on Earth except for Pure-Bloods would be born without magic.

_"How could they do this? They stole something they had no right to take!"_

The seal on his emotions burst open. His magic flared violently out of control caused the paper in his hands to flash into ash. The sconces in the room flared to life as they picked up the loose magic suddenly filling the air. Fortunately this had the effect of surprising Harry enough to cause his magic to still and for Harry to regain his composure. Harry looked up. He was surprised to see the room lit as he assumed it was supposed to.

_"Perhaps they needed to be...recharged?"_ Harry wondered.

Taking a moment to calm himself and to force back down the seal on his emotions, he started into the cabinet once more. The events of what was now being called the Magical Civil War turned bloody. Although too late to stop them, the magical population finally united and fought back against the Pure-Bloods in charge. The result seemed to be that the Wizarding population of the world was devastated. The remaining muggleborns and Half-Bloods were sterile and most Pure-Bloods were butchered. Harry wondered where Voldemort was during all of this.

It seemed that the magical population never started to recover.

The war was finally over, but it seemed that a pervading sense of hopelessness was over the magical world. The remaining papers seemed much more subdued. The remaining Pure-Bloods children were all being born squibs and eventually Harry read about the last graduating class of Hogwarts. It was as if Magic itself judged the Wizarding world unworthy of the gift it bestowed so long ago. Slowly the population declined until Harry reached the paper that he found in the Atrium. Harry wondered who had diligently kept up the record until the last day when the magical world closed its doors forever. The only magic that seemed to still work was the Preservation charms on the cabinets' contents. They must have wanted to ensure that the record wouldn't be lost, that their sins would not be repeated.


	3. CH 3- We're Sorry

**AN:** JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, Bioware (and some others probably) own Mass Effect. Thank you all for making stuff we love.

A couple of people have asked what happened to the magical creatures. I've purposefully left that unanswered. I did debate about allowing Fawkes to make an appearance, but decided against it at this stage. I hope everyone enjoys the next couple of chapters. They are about to get Mass Effect heavy.

CH 3

He wasn't sure how long he sat there on the floor, mind mulling over the unanswered questions he had.

_ "Were _all_ witches and wizards gone forever? What happened to my friends? What happened to Voldemort?_"

He wondered if he would ever have his answers. His friends he knew were all probably dead. If the war didn't kill them then time certainly did.

There was that word again. Time. Harry started to feel like he really hated time.

What broke Harry from his dark thoughts was a loud grumble coming from his stomach. Harry was used to hunger thanks the loving ministrations of the Dursleys over the years. He knew how to ignore the pains and discomfort caused by it. This he had perfected over the summer before his 2nd year at Hogwarts when the Dursleys locked him in his room. They fed him nothing but bread slices and water...when they remembered. The fact that his hunger was so noticeable was worrying to Harry.

_"I had better find some food or get out of here."_ He thought.

This led Harry to another problem. What should he do now? He didn't know how he been sent so far into the future. He suspected that all of the loose time magic and the amount of stray magical spells had something to do with it, but he did not know how any of it worked or if he could return to this time anyhow. What if attempts to re-create the effects launched him further ahead? Not for the first time, Harry wished he had Hermione with him. She probably would know of a book that explained exactly what happened and how to fix this.

"I was doing a bit of light reading when I found…" Harry said, attempting to imitate his bushy haired friend.

Harry thought about what his options were.

_"I can look for food around here and hope that it's still good. Ok scratch that, who knows how long it has been here and if it is still good. Ok, I need to get out of the ministry then. Floos looked cold, but maybe they can be reignited. The lights came on with enough magic pumped into them. Can I take the phone booth up and out? Worth a look into. Go to the top level and blow a hole through the ceiling and hope for the best? Last resort. What supplies can I get my hands on? If there aren't any wizards or witches left around here, is all this fair game? I guess as the last remaining magical citizen this technically belongs to me, sort of. Will I be able to return if I leave? Don't know; better take what I can get my hands on."_

With this Harry started to walk around the floor he was on. He walked further down the hall and saw a door labeled _Department of Information Regulation and Restricted Artifacts_. Harry was able to open the door with no troubles. He walked in and found himself in a large office with empty desks and chairs. It was dark in here. Harry allowed his cap on his emotions to come off, and he flared his magic out, fueled with his fear and anger. The lights in the room slowly lit up, greedily taking in the ambient magic he put off. Harry felt a bit tired and decided he shouldn't do that much more. He did feel less of his anger and fear thanks to burning off the excess through the exertion, and so, he did not cap his emotions again.

He saw a two large iron doors across the office labeled _Restricted Knowledge _and _Restricted Artifacts_. Harry walked up to the artifacts door and tried to turn the handle. It did not give. He tried the other and found the same. He decided to force his way in. He had just stepped back a few paces from the door and a blasting curse was on his lips when he looked down at the desk he was near. There were two gold keys sitting neatly on top. Attached to them was a label that simply read "We're sorry." Harry tried the first key in the Artifacts door and found it worked. With a click and a turn Harry pulled open the door. The rusted hinges groaned as the door was slowly pulled open. Harry saw that a large chamber with lined tall shelves filled with various magical devices. He noticed that they were labeled according to family names. Harry looked down the shelf, seeing various broomsticks, wands, trunks, bags, hats, robes, quidditch balls, cauldrons, and several devices he could not identify. Out of curiosity, Harry looked for names he knew. Under Black Harry found a small pile of wands, several house elf heads, a trunk labeled "Do not Open! Dark Artifacts!" and the portrait of Walburga Black (finally decided to shut up).

Harry picked up a wand and said "lumos". The wand came lit up.

_"Good."_ Harry thought. He was worried that he would never have a wand again if his current one broke. He wondered if any of them belonged to Sirius.

_"Guess I had better take a few spares."_

After gathering up the Black wands, he continued down. Deciding to get it over with he moved down the shelves, ignoring what lay upon them for now. He came across what he was looking for.

Potter

On it lay his old school trunk. It looked battered and worn from time, but still together. He gently pulled it down to the floor and opened it. Inside he found his 5th year school books, clothes, robes, Firebolt (lifeless), and his father's invisibility cloak. Gratefully Harry saw that his cloak appeared to still be in good shape. He draped it over his shoulders and looked down. He grinned when he couldn't see his own feet.

_"Must be made of good materials"_ he thought.

Harry shut his trunk and left it on the floor for now. He got an idea and moved back up the rows a bit and found what he was looking for.

Moody.

Harry saw the trunk that had held Alastor during his fourth year at Hogwarts. Being built of stouter materials, it appeared fairly unscathed. Next to it was Mad-Eye's magical eye. Harry wondered if the Ministry took while he was alive or dead. Knowing Mad-Eye, quite a few people died trying to confiscate it. Harry pulled the trunk down off the shelf. Affixed to the top was the set of keys that opened the trunk. Thinking better of it, Harry put his hand on the top of the trunk and pushed his magic into it. Feeling a rush of energy leaving him, Harry felt a bit dizzy and had to sit down on the ground for a bit. Once he regained his composure he took the keys opened each of the seven compartments. The trunk worked. He found them all empty, but he was expecting that. He noticed the last four compartments were quite large and could hold quite a bit. The first three were normal sized trunk compartments. Harry drug his old school trunk over to it and started to put his things in the first compartment. Once that was done, Harry decided to shrink his old trunk and keep it as well. It had served him well for some time. On a whim, Harry took the eye off the shelf and tossed it in as well.

Most of the shelves held much of the same. Harry wished he had time to go through all of the trunks, but he needed to be moving on. He shrunk Moody's trunk and put it into his pocket. Leaving the room he shut the door behind him. He decided to leave it unlocked.

"_Perhaps someone else will find this place."_

He unlocked and pulled open the _Restricted Knowledge_ door. Stepping inside he felt that he had died and gone to Hermione's view of heaven. There was shelf after shelf of books. Harry pulled out, unshrunk, and cast a featherweight charm on his new trunk and opened compartment number four. He started down the shelves pulling it behind him. He needed books that would help him survive the unknown. He was able to skip shelves of books filled with titles like 100 Charms for Charming Witches and Wizengamot Code of Criminal Procedure(innocent until proven guilty I bet). He noticed all of Gilderoy Lockhart's books were here.

_"Well for once I agree with the Ministry on restricting that garbage. Should have burned the things."_

He made his way to the shelf labeled Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He started to unload them into his 4th compartment. He was gentle as possible put did drop quite a few into a pile. Hermione would probably skin him alive if she knew what he was doing. He took several armfuls from shelves containing transfiguration, charms, and wards. On a whim he grabbed several volumes on Arithmancy and Runes. He figured he would never know when it would come in handy. He grabbed only a few potions texts as he wasn't even sure if he would find magical ingredients anymore. He still had the Occlumency book Luna gave him, but he grabbed another titled Creating a Cerebral Castle. Finally he made his way over to the shelf simply labeled "Time". He grabbed every volume he could not knowing what he needed.

He took out his Firebolt and decided trying to "jump start" it as well. He grasped the handle and pulsed more magic in it. He felt even more tired, but was rewarded. The broom felt light and Harry let it go. It held in the air. Smiling, he closed his trunk, shrunk it, put it in his pocket, and made his way out. He rode his broom with his lit wand in front of him. This beat walking after an exhausting day (or several he thought). Realizing his reserves were running short he decided that trying to restart the floo connections might drain him dry. He maneuvered his broom up the stairs to the first floor. He started to look around and found a sign that read exit. Following the arrows he came to a door with another exit sign above it.

"Huh, easy enough."

He was disappointed when opening revealed a brick wall. He tried tapping the bricks like at the Leaky Cauldron.

Nothing.

He finally moved back and blasted a hole in the bricks. Moving through, he looked like he was in some sort of cellar. He assumed it must be a hidden entrance in a muggle building. He was about to leave when, thinking better of it, he turned around and cast a repairing charm on the bricks. They rejoined the wall again, hiding the door. He could see light coming through the cellar door. He put away his broom in his truck and place that back into his pocket. He made his way up the stairs and unlocked the door. He opened it and was met with the bright light of day. He looked at the ground, squinting, until his eyes adjusted. He made his way up the steps. Once he got there he was floored by what he saw.


	4. CH 4- What Happens Now?

**CH 4**

Harry gaped at what he thought must have been Whitehall. It was as he remembered it with its regular set windows and white stone walls. No the building was much the same except that above the original facade was a tall sleek tower of shining metal. This massive tower extended far into the sky and jutted out and random intervals. It was beautiful in an odd sort of way. Around were more towers with much the same design. Harry had seen skyscrapers before, but never this tall. High in the sky he could see large specs flying about the towers, but couldn't make out what they were. Looking down and around himself there seemed to be some strange cars parked around him. They were quite large and sleek, but what Harry noticed first was that they all had no tires. He then noticed that they all looked mostly the same except for color. There were people walking down the sidewalk. He thanked the stars that they looked like normal people. Their clothing was not too strange either, but they did have some embellishments that Harry hadn't seen before. He noticed some also appeared to openly carry what appeared to be very large pistols at their hips.

He must have been quite the site standing there dumbfounded as he started drawing unwanted attention of several people walking around. He was about to leave when he heard a voice yelling at him.

"Oi, you there! Stop right there!"

Michael Kent had been working the Whitehall district for about 6 months. It was a more sedate beat that he enjoyed. He liked the relative routine the area fell in during workdays. He was making his way down Whitehall Court making sure no one was parked in an illegal fashion when he noticed several pedestrians staring behind them as they walked. He looked further up the block and noticed a young teen drawing everyone's attention. He looked like a wreck in all honesty. He was wearing drab, odd looking clothing that was worn and torn in random places. His eyes looked exhausted and he was half starved looking he was so thin. Kent saw that the boy had turned away and was starting to walk away when Kent called out to him.

"Oi, you there! Stop right there!"

The boy turned towards him. He tensed as if to make a break for it, but froze once his eyes rested on his badge.

"Hey kid. You alright?" Kent asked quizzically.

"Not really." The kid said, and then looked surprised that he had said that. Kent assumed that his apparent exhaustion had made him more honest than he intended.

"My name is Officer Kent. What is yours?"

"Harry…Harry Potter. Are you with the police?"

"Yes son, but don't worry. You aren't in any trouble."

"Good." The boy replied.

"Are you from around here?"

"No."

"Where from? I'll give you a ride."

"Don't think you'll find it."

"Try me."

"OK, I'm from Little Whinning."

"The factory district?"

"I guess."

Kent knew that the boy, Harry, was hiding something. The kid wouldn't meet his eyes and from his beat up appearance, he seemed to develop an idea.

"Anyone hurt you son?"

"I got in a fight the other day."

"I can tell."

"Any family I can call for you?"

Kent saw him tense at this.

"No, they're all dead."

Kent couldn't decide what to do. He couldn't leave an unattended minor like this when he looked like someone ran him through the entire N7 program in one night.

"Hey son, would you like to grab a bite to eat?"

Harry looked up at Kent. He was looking for any opportunity to get away from this police officer without arousing too much suspicion when he made an offer he couldn't refuse.

Food.

Harry felt like he could eat a horse, or two, or as much as Ron at the sorting feasts.

"Sure."

"Well let's get to my patrol car and I'll need to make a call."

Harry agreed. He felt for his wand. He had managed to discreetly slide it up his sleeve whenever Kent had called out to him. It was still there. Harry figured that in worst case he can use a Confundus charm and get away. They walked toward one of the blue cars he had seen along the street. This one was affixed with a police light bar and marked for London PD. Harry was still wondering where the tires were when the side and top windows opened out revealing the inside.

Harry stood there gaping when he heard Kent say "Hey kid, you act like you've never seen a Skycar before."

Harry noticed the car had a divider that separated from front from the back. Harry made to sit in the back when Kent said, "Harry, you're not under arrest. Hop in on the passenger side."

Sheepishly Harry sat down in the passenger seat. Harry buckled himself in and watched as Kent sat down and did the same. The next thing Harry saw was Kent raise his hand to his face and his arm and hand become surrounded by an orange gauntlet of sorts.

"You can do magic?!"

Kent looked at him puzzled.

"This is just my omni-tool son."

Harry returned the puzzled look.

"You do know what an omni-tool is right?"

Harry looked embarrassed at him. Obviously Harry should know have known what this was in this day and age. Harry turned away from him and looked out his window.

"I guess I forgot."

Harry heard Kent's "omni-tool" make a loud beeping sound and Kent began to speak.

"Dispatch this is officer 277 I have an unattended minor. He has some mild abrasions and looks in need of a meal. We're going to grab something and I'll swing by central when we're done."

"Kent!" said a gruff voice from his omni-tool, "You picking up strays again? Don't answer, I already know you are. I'll send Blair around to cover your zone. Don't take too long."

Kent looked at Harry, who was still looking out the window "Don't mind him about the stray comment. He's always trying to rile me up like that. Knows I don't like it when he calls anyone that."

Harry continued to look out the window, too embarrassed to face Kent.

_"I am a stray, aren't I?'"_

He was jerked out of his brooding by the sound of the sky car turning on. He noticed the engine had more of a high pitch whine than a rumble of cars he was used to. Harry had a suspicion about why this was a called a "Skycar" and it was confirmed whenever they started moving up into the air.

Harry grinned. Looking at his own reflection in the glass of the sky car, he knew this was the same grin he always got whenever he got to fly his broom at Hogwarts or the Burrow. They rose higher and higher until Kent rose higher than a series of lights lining one of the floors of the skyscraper. Harry noticed that all of the towers had these lights at this same level. Once above them, Kent started the Skycar forward. Harry noticed floating objects in the sky that looked sort of like flying traffic lights. Kent directed them towards a stream of skycars moving past the Whitehall tower. Kent pressed a button with his left thumb on the steering column and lights on the left side of the sky car started to blink. Seeing a spot open, Kent eased his sky car into the flow.

"Thank goodness traffic doesn't look bad today." Kent said, with an air of relief.

"Is it often that bad?" asked Harry.

"Well, not around this time, but when everyone's trying to leave work in the evening, it's a nightmare."

Harry guessed some things never changed. Uncle Vernon would often complain about traffic on his way back from Grunnings.

They flew in relative silence for a while, only interrupted by a radio in Kent's patrol car chiming in to request backup with an arrest here or a suspicious person there. Harry was admiring the buildings around him. Everything was so uniform in theme, yet no building looked the same. All sleek, shining, and metal, but the towers bent at weird places and windows were set at different intervals.

"I've always liked the towers." Kent said, breaking the relative silence in the Skycar, "From a distance they all look the same, but once you take a closer look, you see that they are each unique. I think the designers wanted that, you know, to show all the others what we humans are like."

Harry turned and looked puzzled at Kent.

_"What did he mean by 'we humans'?"_

Harry opted to remain quiet rather than ask Kent what he meant. He had decided that the more questions he asked about this place, the more questions he would draw about himself. Finally, after a few minutes of flying, Harry saw something that everyone from his time would recognize anywhere. The golden arches of a McDonalds.

"_Some things really never change!"_

The restaurant was set into the side of another sleek tall tower. There seemed to be a place to land skycars nearby that led into what looked like a dining area. Kent slowed down and drew closer to the golden arches on the walls of the tower. Harry then noticed two small windows under each of the arches. Kent pulled up alongside the first arch and his radio blared to life again.

"Hi welcome to McDonald's. Will your order require any dextro substitutions?"

"No, just normal is fine." Kent said.

"Order when you're ready."

"Two Big Mac Menu's with Nutreen Colas on that."

"Ok, that'll be...280 credits, please pull up to receive your order."

Harry watched as they pulled forward and the small side panel window on the side of the Skycar went down. Kent's omni-tool flashed as he waved his hand towards a black panel set into the side of the wall. After this the window in the arch opened and an older teen with a headset leaned out with a bag which Kent took. The older boy retreated and returned with two large cups. Kent grabbed them and handed one to Harry.

"Nutreen Cola?" Harry asked.

"What? Do you not like it? You look like you could use one."

"No, it's just that I haven't had it before."

"Oh… well... I think you'll like it."

Harry took a tentative sip of his drink. It was sweet, but not overly so. It was not like the fizzy drinks he had managed to try when he was with the Dursleys. Contented with the flavor he then tore into the wrapping surrounding his burger. He bit into it and nearly groaned with satisfaction. He did not realize how hungry he was. He noticed that Kent hadn't touched any of the food and had begun directing the sky car back into another stream of traffic.

"Are you not going to eat?"

"I already did. I'll keep this drink, but I figured you could use the extra burger and chips."

"Thanks."

Harry hungrily devoured the burgers and started in on the chips. He noticed that they were orange and not salted. He stared at them quizzically.

"What's the matter?" Kent asked.

"They're orange."

"Of course they are."

"And they look baked."

"Yeah, so?"

"Then why do they look so healthy?"

"It's McDonald's Harry, of course it's healthy."

Harry again turned to the window to hide his embarrassment and confusion. He continued to eat the chips (they were quite good). He wondered if his cousin Dudley would have looked like a small whale if chips were all like this back during his time.

"Where are we going now?"

"Well I want to take you to the Central London Precinct to get looked over. You look like you have been through the ringer. You'll also be able to get a bit cleaned up and some sleep. After that, Harry, I was hoping we can find your home."

"Yeah, me too." Harry replied.

They resumed their silence as they continued on down the stream of traffic, only changing directions once with the aid of one of the floating lights directing them. After about 15 minutes Kent pulled out of the stream and pressed a button on the central panel.

"Parking request submitted, please wait." said an artificial sounding voice from the panel.

After a brief moment it replied; "Request granted please follow parking guides."

A small series of flashing lights appeared on Kent's window, seemingly leading him in the direction to follow. Kent moved the sky car down and forward until the lights indicated they were above the assigned parking spot. The sky car lowered and Kent hit a series of buttons. The whining of the engine stopped and the side door and canopy opened out.

"We're here son." Kent said, climbing out.

Harry did the same and followed him towards a series of doors at the base of a tall tower. Harry noticed the lot full of similar police skycars. As they drew nearer to the doors, Harry saw letters above them reading London Central Precinct and Alliance Command. Kent held the door for Harry as they arrived. Inside there was a swarm of activity. Harry saw several desks with queues of people in front of them. Kent motioned Harry to follow and the walked past desks. They made it to a hallway at the back of the main entrance. Above it read Security Checkpoint 1A. Harry saw Kent place his sidearm on a conveyor belt leading into a small hole in the wall. Kent walked into the Hallway and Harry followed. As they were walking through, beams of blue light began washing over them. They made it through to the other side where Kent retrieved his side arm from a similar hole and conveyor belt.

"I'm glad to see you weren't hiding any weapons on you." Kent said laughingly.

Kent continued on towards a series of lifts and Harry followed closely. There was so much activity around him that he did not want to get separated here. Inside the lift Kent press the button for floor 28. They rode up in relative silence.

"It's odd to be riding a lift with someone so quiet. Usually people pick this time to strike up the oddest conversations."

"Sorry, I just don't have much to say."

"No need for that now. Everyone is welcome to keep their peace. Well everyone like you who isn't here because we arrested them."

Harry was grateful Kent wasn't trying to pry. He wasn't sure how much he should or shouldn't say. He knew he shouldn't say anything about his magic, but how would he explain where he was from or who he is. Also, Harry kept slipping and showing his surprise at the unfamiliar and strange muggle technology. Harry was trying to come up with a plausible explanation, but decided against trying to make something up. He didn't know enough about when he was to make a believable story. Besides, Kent seemed nice and seemed to genuinely want to help.

Once they reached their floor Kent led Harry down the hallway to a door labeled Clinic. Kent walked inside motioning Harry to follow. Inside Harry saw room with a heavy blue and metallic theme. The chairs in the waiting room they had entered looked comfortable enough, but he did not recognize the material that the cushions were wrapped in. There was a glass coffee table in the center. Harry noticed a magazine titled SA Weekly. The picture on it showed an odd shaped statue with a tagline that read "Can Forta be the next Picasso?"

Harry saw that Kent had gone up to the window where a receptionist sat on the other side and knocked on the glass.

"Is Dr. Michel in?"

"Yes she is. Should I go get her Michael?"

"That would be great Sue."

The receptionist walked back to an office and poked her head in the door. A moment later she left followed by a woman with short red hair. She was wearing a white uniform with a blue breast piece that buttoned across her chest. She had patches on either sleeve that read X-01.

"Michael" the woman said in slightly French accent. "It's good to see you. You haven't been shot have you? When I heard they moved you to Whitehall I thought you would never see me again."

"Hello Chloe, it's good to see you too. No, Whitehall is as boring as could be expected. I'm here for my friend here. Harry, this is Dr. Michel. She is a good friend of mine and has patched me up quite a few times."

"Only because you can't keep your nose out of trouble."

"Hello" said Harry, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Hello Mr. Potter, or can I call you Harry? Good. Is there a reason Officer Kent brought you here today?"

"Well, I guess it's because I looked like I fell down an air shaft." Harry quipped.

Smiling, Dr. Michel motioned towards her office. "If you'll follow me Harry we'll get you looked over. Michael, will you be joining us?"

"After a moment. I should probably let my CO know what I've been doing and I need to make a few calls."

Harry asked suddenly "Will you be coming back?"

"Sure son." Kent replied before stepping out.

Still smiling, patted the exam table in the room they had entered.

"If you'll lie down for me Harry we'll do a quick exam. Won't take but a minute."

Harry did so. Dr. Michel activated an omni-tool on her left wrist and waved it over Harry's body. Harry, not feeling anything, wondered what she was doing.

"Have you had any vaccinations Harry?"

"Umm...not that I'm aware of?"

"Any hospitalizations lasting more than a day?"

Harry grew quiet. Several times at Hogwarts Harry had ended up in the infirmary for several days at a time. He didn't know how to respond, but Dr. Michel broke him out of his thoughts.

"It's OK Harry; no one here will be upset if you have."

"...yes" Harry said after a pause.

"Do you know how many times?"

"A few. I don't really recall how many times."

Dr. Michel punched a few buttons on the glowing gauntlet of the omni-tool.

"Harry, I'd like to get a blood sample from you if that is OK. I'd like to see if there are any vaccinations that you'll need."

Harry nodded his assent and she placed a white plastic cylinder on his arm. A quick hiss from it and a slight sting and she pulled it away.

"I need to go run this Harry. Make yourself comfortable. If you need anything, just find Susan and ask her."

Chloe stepped out and shut the door behind her. She walked into her private office and sat down, rubbing her eyelids. She activated her Omni-tool and said "Michael Kent". A moment later she heard his voice over her Omni-tool.

"Yeah Chloe?"

"Are you almost back? I want to talk about Harry when you get a chance."

"Yeah, me too. I'll head there"

After a few minutes Michael walked in.

"So, something else huh?"

"Where did you find him? I've not seen a child like him since I went to the holdout regions."

"Yeah, he's been through it. I picked him up in the Whitehall district when I was working the foot patrol. He was just standing around gaping in wonder."

"His health," Chloe said, bringing up a holographic image of Harry's body. It cycled through red flashes to different regions of his body. "It is like he has been beaten within inches of his like. I've found scar tissue all over his body, mostly on his back and arms. He shows signs of severe malnutrition and severe exhaustion. His blood work indicates an unknown toxin flowing through his system and he has antibodies for diseases that were eradicated centuries ago. Kent, he had antibodies for Influenza! When was the last case of that documented! Also, he hasn't had any of the regular vaccinations that children receive at birth. Wherever did he come from?"

"I thought as much. I suspected at first he might be from one of the holdout regions. You know how they dislike anything modern. The only thing throwing that theory for a loop is his accent. He sounds British by all accounts. I do have a theory though…"

"What is it?"

"He might have been kidnapped by or sold at birth to one of the human traffic rings. They mostly operate in holdout regions, but they may have gotten their hands on him when he was young. They may have ditched him when he didn't sell when he was older. Too sickly probably. Kid didn't recognize anything from my omni-tool to my Skycar. Either he has been locked up this entire time or they chemically mind wiped him."

"People would do such a thing?" Chloe gasped.

"Unfortunately it does happen. Batarians love slaves that have no history. Makes them less likely to try and escape. I made some inquiries. He doesn't match any known data base which is why I think he must have been taken at birth."

"What happens to him now?"

"Now? Now I will need to contact Child Services and see if there is a place we can put him. I don't like it, but he's going to need someone who can get him up to speed in this world."

Chloe nodded sadly. "I will get him a full screen of vaccinations and get him caught up. Make sure wherever he goes that he gets placed on a high nutrient diet. He'll be drinking lots of Nutreen."

Harry was close to falling asleep on the table when the door the room opened. Dr. Michel and Officer Kent walked in.

"Oh, I am sorry Harry; I didn't realize that you were almost asleep. You must be exhausted."

"It's alright; I've been up for a while."

Dr. Michel opened a metal cabinet and took down a series of plastic cylinders.

"Harry, if it's OK I will give you a series of vaccinations you should have had and then an application of medi-gel to help with your abrasions."

Harry nodded. He didn't know what medi-gel was, but Dr. Michel had been very good to him so he trusted it would help. He was grateful that she asked for his permission first. Madam Pomfrey at the Hogwarts Infirmary would just command him to lie in his bed and shove potions down his throat. She meant well, but it was nice to be asked for once.

Dr. Michel took the cylinders and, one after another, pressed them to his arm. He only felt slight stings and they were done. She then placed a small tube on a wrist band on her left arm, her omni-tool lit up, and Harry felt a cool light wash over his body. As soon as the light touched him, those areas of his body felt relief from the soreness, scrapes, and bruises he had acquired.

"What was that?" Harry asked, surprised at the sensation.

"Medi-gel." Dr. Chloe replied. "Harry, I noticed in your blood work that you had a poison of some sort in your blood. Do you know why that is?"

"Ummm, I was bitten by a rather large snake once."

"How large?"

Harry showed them the scar on his arm where the basilisk fang had punctured it during his second year. It was the size of a sickle. Dr. Chloe's eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you in any pain? Does it cause any problems?"

"No, it happened about three years ago and I haven't had any problems."

"I am making a note in your file to keep an eye on this. Do not donate any blood Harry as it could harm someone."

At this Kent came over and said. "Harry you want to come down to my desk with me for a bit? I've got to make a few more calls to find a place for you to rest for the night and I'd like your input."

Harry didn't like the sound of that, but didn't know what else to do. He decided to follow along as best he could. They rode the lift down to floor eleven. Upon exiting Harry saw a sign that said _Booking and In-Processing_. Harry was led past a series of desks with uniform officers sitting at them. Across from a few were various people. Harry noticed a few were cuffed to their chairs.

"Preliminary questioning." Kent said, noticing that Harry was looking at the cuffs.

Kent stopped at a desk with his name on a plate on it. He motioned for Harry to have a seat and he did so. Kent began working on what looked like a computer in front of it. Harry noticed that the screen was made out of light and projected in the air. Harry was looking around. He noticed that the office area they were in had a high ceiling, taking up several floors above them. Offices with glass walls looked down on them. He then noticed voices growing louder at the desk a few meters from Kent's. Another officer was talking to a brute of a man. He was obviously trying to calm the man down, but it did not appear to be working. Another officer approached from the side of the man. Suddenly the man jumped up and pulled the officer's side-arm free, shouldered the officer to the ground, and pointed it around yelling.

"Back! Back away from!"

Kent immediately jumped up and pulled his side arm on the man as did several others.

"Let's just slow down here a minute and think." Kent said with a level voice. "We don't want any trouble."

"And I said for you guys to get back! I'm not afraid to pull this trigger!" The man yelled pointing his gun at Kent. Harry quickly slid his wand out of his sleeve and palmed it. Harry hid the end of his wand with his fingers and mentally prepared an Expelliarmus. Harry figured he could pull off the motions of his spell without holding it properly as it needed only a swish and jab, but no flick. Slicing his arm down and out a red light shot out of Harry's wand, striking the large man's hand. The pistol shot out of his hand and flew to Harry who caught it by the barrel. Everyone paused for a second before a burly officer tackled into the man and forced him down into the desk. Several other officers piled on top, wrestling the man's hands behind him. Once they managed to cuff him Kent returned his pistol to his side. He turned and looked at Harry and held his hand out, palm up. Harry placed the pistol into it and thrust it into the owning officer's hands.

"What have you been told about maintaining control of your sidearm? And you!" Kent yelled, turning to the officer behind the desk "Why wasn't this man cuffed? I swear I haven't seen such ineptitude since training rookies at the academy!"

While Kent was dressing down the officers Harry noticed a group making its way towards them. Harry noticed they were all wearing dark blue and black dress uniforms lined in gold. In front was a blonde woman with bright blue eyes. Upon noticing her, Kent quieted down and turned to face her. He immediately straightened and saluted.

"Officer present!" Kent yelled and everyone stopped and saluted.

"At ease." she said, looking at Kent.

"How can I help you Lieutenant?" Kent said, with more formality than Harry was used to hearing from him.

"I just happened to be watching the commotion upstairs."

"You were? I'm sorry you had to see that ma'am." Kent replied.

"I'm not." She turned to Harry and said "Hello, my name is Dr. Kahlee Sanders."


	5. CH 5- It's Brilliant

**AN: **Don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. I am glad they exist, however. Thanks JK Rowling and Bioware et al.

So we're finally going to get off this rock in this chapter. The next few chapters to come will skip a lot of time. I wish I could spend more time writing about Harry's new found relationships, but we do have to stop Saren a some point in the future. I'm glad that several of you are enjoying the story and will continue to read it.

**CH5**

Harry found himself in one of the offices he had seen before from the Booking and In-Processing floor. Officer Kent had escorted him here with the entourage of Dr. Sanders. The room was a lavish office. It had one of the first wooden tables that Harry had seen since arriving here. It was of a dark wood and must have been able to seat at least twenty or so people. Around it were leather chairs set at even intervals. In front of each chair was one of the consoles similar to what he saw Kent working on. Harry had been left alone there for about twenty minutes now. He was just about to build up enough courage to mess with the console in front of him when the door opened up. Dr. Sanders returned along with Kent.

"Hello Harry. Officer Kent here was just bringing me up to speed about you. Apparently you aren't from around here and have had a rough go lately?"

"Yes ma'am." Harry replied, looking down.

"There's no need for ma'am with me Harry. Unless you decide to put on the Alliance uniform, it will just be Kahlee. Now, Harry, I have an offer for you, but I am going to ask you a few questions first. Is that alright?"

Harry looked up and met her eyes. She seemed to be genuine.

_"When did so many adults start caring?" _Harry thought.

"Only if I am allowed to ask a few as well." he replied.

"That sounds fair. I will not lie to you, Harry, if you do the same. If I cannot answer a question for you, I'll let you know. Deal?"

"Yeah."

"OK, Harry. About what happened downstairs, do you know how the gun flew towards you?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind sharing?"

Harry decided to give some of the truth. He was terrible at making up lies. Ironic when considering the scar on his left hand still read "I MUST NOT TELL LIES".

"I've been able to do that sort of thing for a long time now."

"When did it start?"

"When I was younger."

"Did you have anyone teach you or did you learn yourself?"

"Someone showed me _how_ to do it, but I learned to do it on my own."

"Can you tell me who that is?"

"No, but it doesn't matter. They died a long time ago."

"OK. Can you do other things?"

"Yes, but not right now."

"Is there a particular reason?"

"I'm very tired and it can be dangerous for me to do so like this." Harry was pleased with being able to think of this half-truth on the spot. He didn't want to have to reveal his wand in the fears they'd take his primary defense from him. He trusted them to an extent, but he only just met them.

"Ok, that is understandable. Harry, have you ever heard of biotics?"

"No ma'am."

"That's quite understandable. They're quite rare among humans right now. I'm going to show you something."

Her omni-tool lit up as she waved it at the console in front of her. A video appeared on it just like Harry used to see when he would sneak a peek at the telly the Dursley's owned. Harry watched a series of videos that showed other people surrounded by a purple glow. They were doing things that Harry only thought possible with magic like lifting up large objects, throwing them, banishing them across the room. The last clip showed one person lifting a test dummy and another launching a purple ball at it. It exploded upon impact leaving nothing behind of the dummy.

"You see Harry; there are several others that can do special things like you can. I help run a school that helps others like you hone their abilities. Officer Kent tells me that you don't really have a place to go. A lot of the other students don't either. Some of their families gave them up when their abilities frightened them or ignorance blinded them. You would be among your peers."

Harry's mind was reeling from all of this information

_"What if they are magical like me? What if I can find the answers I need to get back? What if this is an attempt to use me? Make me some sort of weapon."_

"Ma'am, do you require your students to join the military?" Harry asked pointedly.

"NO!" Dr. Sanders stated vehemently. "Harry, I promise you this: All of our students are in control of their lives. If you decide to attend and decide you are ready to leave at any time later, we will not stop you. I will not lie; many of our students do decide to join the Systems Alliance. They are given many good offers from the Alliance due to their talents and the opportunities in it are good. However, if you decide that you were ready to leave then we will wish you the best of luck."

Harry thought of one last question, one that he had been avoiding for some time now.

"What is today's date?"

Dr. Sanders blinked at him.

"Today is April 24th."

"Year?"

Dr. Sanders looked at Officer Kent who shrugged in reply.

"2180."

The pit in Harry's stomach returned. That was nearly two hundred years away from his home. His head spun and he started to feel dizzy. He leaned forward and rested his head on the table. It was a credit to the patience of Dr. Sanders and Kent that they allowed him to rest there a moment.

_"His exhaustion plus the suspected memory wipe must be wrecking the poor boy." _thought Dr. Sanders to herself.

Finally Harry sat up. His eyes were closed and he drew a long breath through his nose. He opened them and said "OK. If I accept, will there be anything else I need to know?"

"First, I'll need to know your birthday if you can recall it."

Harry chuckled to himself. This time he figured the truth wouldn't go over too well.

"August 1...2164."

"So that makes you a close to 16 then. If you accept you'll be a ward of the state under my supervision. What that will mean is that until you come of age at 18 you'll need my permission to leave the school. I cannot force you into any legal commitments, but you cannot enter into any of your own without my consent. All it really means is our Grissom Academy will be your home for at least two years, and then you will be free to choose for yourself. Is that acceptable?"

Harry thought over it to himself. _"I'll probably be a 'ward of the state' regardless of where I go. There at least I can see if I can find other magicals. I'll be there for two years though; can I make that kind of commitment? This is the only known quantity though. Who knows where else I'll be. Two years. OK. Then I am free to do what I will. Wait, why does it matter? I can just use magic and get out. Alright, it's decided."_

"OK, I'll do it."

"I'm glad to hear that, Harry. I'll get the paperwork ready and we'll prepare to leave tomorrow. Kent, I'll speak to your CO and have you excused from duties today. See to it that Harry here gets a fresh set of clothes…" she paused for a moment "... and find him a basic omni-tool. I'll leave him in your care until then. Meet me at 0700 at landing pad 8."

Kent looked at Harry and chuckled.

"Well, son. Are you ready to not look like a Krogan challenged you to a drinking contest?"

The next morning Harry met Dr. Sanders with Michael on landing pad 8. Harry had spent the rest of the afternoon with Michael. Harry had taken to calling him that after he had insisted on it. Harry followed Michael to a floor with a lot of younger looking patrol officers.

"Our new recruits are required to bunk here as they work block shifts of three days on, three days off. It sucks at first, but it sure as heck motivates you to get promoted up. I do not miss those days at all." Kent explained.

Harry was led to a room with a sign that read _Quartermaster_. Michael walked up to the half door and knocked. The top half opened and an older man with balding brown hair opened the door.

"What'ya need, Kent?"

"I've got authorization to get this young man outfitted in some civies and some basic tech."

Michael activated his omni-tool and it flashed briefly, causing the older man's to light up. He looked down at his omni-tool and said "Well, everything looks to be in order. Come inside and we'll get you fixed up."

Harry was led towards the back where the older man handed him three pairs of shirts: blue, black, and grey. He then was handed three pairs of black pants and Harry added these to the pile. Kent came forward with a rucksack and told him to set them in it. Harry then was issued a pair of black boots, three pairs of socks, and (much to his embarrassment) three pairs of briefs.

"This'll get you by until you get to the school." Kent said to Harry.

"Where you headed to?" said the older man.

"School, I guess." Harry replied. He was not sure how much to let the man know.

"Some school if you get free clothes from my supplies as a part of it."

"Charles," Kent said. "Leave the boy alone."

"Alright, alright. Just trying to get to know the lad. Now let's see here, what else do we need? An omni-tool? Hmm, let's see. Yeah, I got an x3 series. Not the best mind you, but it does a respectable job. Now should we add a blade or attack drone upgrade?"

"Charles!" Kent growled through his teeth.

"Alright, alright. Jeez." He looked at Harry. "Can't let anyone have any fun. Well, here you go kid."

He clasped the omni-tool around Harry's left wrist. It was plain and black with metal sections that allowed it to curve around the wrist. On the front of his wrist were metal clasps with a release on the side. On the back of his wrist was a square section that looked like a blank watch face. Charles then activated his own omni-tool and waved it over Harry's. Suddenly Harry's arm and hand were aglow with the orange light of the omni-tool. Although Harry couldn't feel any weight, he could actually feel it was solid when he prodded it with his finger.

"Now this is a pretty basic unit." Charles explained. "It only has a Terabyte of memory so don't get too crazy with the games."

Harry smiled at Charles over the glow of his arm. "It's brilliant!"

Harry had turned in early after sharing a meal in the mess hall with Michael and some of the other officers. He was allowed to get a shower and brush his teeth before being settled down in a bunk. It didn't take long for Harry to fall into a dreamless sleep due to his exhaustion.

The next morning Harry's wrist started buzzing as his omni-tool attempted to wake him up. He had to activate the omni-tool and press a series of colored buttons that corresponded to its written word. He heard Kent laughing in the bunk nearby.

"That app is probably one of the best at keeping people from going back to sleep. We make all of our recruits have it so they don't miss their wake up calls. Charles must have forgotten to take it off. Or he didn't, knowing him. Anyways, get up, get dressed, and get moving! You got a shuttle to catch."

Harry did as he was told and was soon wearing his gray shirt, black pants, and boots. He grabbed his bag, made sure his wand was concealed in his pocket along with his shrunken trunk, and followed Kent out. They ate in the mess hall again. The morning was moving quickly and the next thing he knew, he was on Landing Pad 8 waiting for his ride. Kent came, stood next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry, feel free to write me on the extranet when you get a chance… if you wanted to of course...if you get time."

Harry looked up at the older man and said "Of course, I will."

Kent activated the palm portion of his omni-tool and said "Here's my extranet information. Just, send me a message when you get settled so I know you made it alright."

"Sure thing Michael."

Harry noticed Dr. Sanders walking up to them on the platform.

"All set, Harry?"

"I am now." he said, looking to Michael.

"Good. If you'll follow me, we'll get you settled and be off." Dr. Sanders said.

They walked towards a large blue and white vehicle that had what appeared to be four vents with blue flames softly burning out of them. A hatch opened in the middle and swung up. Dr. Sanders ducked inside and Harry did the same. He turned and waved to Michael who did the same. The hatch lowered and Harry saw that he was alone with Dr. Sanders.

"So… Where is Grissom Academy located?" Harry asked.

"Over one of our colonies… Elysium. It's a few thousand light years away."

"What!"

He stared slack-jawed out the front viewing windows next to the pilot. Harry had always loved flying on his broomstick, but there was only so high they could go before it became dangerous. After a while, the air became so thin that you risked blacking out and you might wake up without a broom or too close to the ground to stop yourself. Harry had heard from Ron that some people liked to fly up really high in the sky before allowing themselves to free fall. Harry decided he had too many close calls on brooms as it was to go looking for danger.

The view from the shuttle ride was brilliant. They were moving incredibly fast and, after a few minutes, Harry could eventually see the curve of the earth as they rose higher and higher. He'd lost sight of the Earth from the window as they turned to head towards the moon, but Harry was rewarded with a spectacular view of the moon. Astronomy lessons had nothing on this.

He remembered Dr. Sanders's explanation of the program once they were aboard the Michaelson, the ship that would take them to Grissom Academy.

"OK, Harry. I don't think you've spent much time off-world or know what it's like to spend time on a space station, so I am going to go over how our classes work.

"OK." Harry said, not really knowing what to expect. Her omni-tool came to life and a small screen projected from her hand. Harry could see a time table of sorts. It was so crammed that even McGonagall would blush.

"I know this looks like a lot Harry, and it is, but this will seem normal after a while. Living in an environment without our native sun does some funny things to our bodies. The sun sets your body's 'clock' and determines when you feel tired and when you should wake up. We have to simulate sunlight at our school and we have found that we can cheat a bit in regards to this. You'll get around five to six hours of rest a night and go to class for twelve. Meals are scheduled during this time. You will have days off and you'll be glad of the extra hours in the 'day' to have fun with your friends. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what are some of these classes?"

"Most are basic courses you would have had for the last four or five years of schooling. Some of these will be taught by a virtual intelligence interface as we usually don't teach some of these classes here. These include basic mathematics, history, and science. Your shared classes will be on literature and literacy, technical proficiency, and you'll have a three hour block every day where we work on your biotics and physical education. With meals this will take up about 12 hours a day."

Harry stared blankly at her.

"You expect me to be able to do that all day every day?" he asked skeptically, leveling an incredulous stare at her.

Dr. Sanders laughed lightly.

"All I ask, Harry, is that you give it your very best. If it becomes too much, you can come talk to me and we'll see what we can do. Before I forget, many of your classes are self-paced. If you can pass your examinations at any point, you'll be allowed to move on to another subject. We adopted the Elysium model of education. We found that allowing advanced students a chance to move on motivates them and students who need more attention can get it."

Harry thought that Hermione would have loved this system. He wagered that his bushy-haired friend would have taken her NEWTS by fourth year and had a mastery by sixth.

The shuttle they took was less impressive of a ride overall. The first hour or two were magnificent. He spent a lot of time at the cockpit with the pilots, staring out the viewing windows at the stars. Unfortunately, this grew dull after a bit since there wasn't much to see with millions of miles between objects. When they grew close to the Sol relay, Harry had his next bit of excitement. The structure was grand. He thought he never saw anything bigger in his life. The glow from the center rings was oddly mesmerizing. When they drew close and activated the FTL coordinates, the shuttle was surrounded by a bright glow, forcing the pilots to shut all of the view ports. After this they were flying by equipment only as they jumped from relay to relay to reach the school. During this time Harry made good friends with the lead pilot.

"Hey, kid. Back again?"

"Yeah, Frank. I was hoping there would be something going on up here."

"Going stir crazy already? Dr. Sanders not give you enough school work to keep you busy?"

"No, I've gotten plenty. I've finished it already though."

"Why don't you let her know? I'm sure that she could get you some more to work on."

"Hence why I am hanging out with you instead of finding her."

Frank let out a rough laugh and turned the volume back up on the console, piping in music on his speakers.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed "I know this one!"

Frank looked at him skeptically.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, this is the Beatles!" This was one of the few things he managed to hear when Aunt Petunia played the radio with Uncle Vernon gone to work.

"Wow, kid. I didn't think anyone your age listened to the Moderns. Want a copy of it?"

"Sure, is that alright?"

"Don't worry; it's all public domain like all Moderns are. Here, have my whole collection. It's nice that some of the young blood is keeping the good stuff alive."

Harry came away from the trip to Grissom Academy with most of his literature and a lot of basic mathematics reviewed… and twenty gigabytes of Frank's collection of music.


	6. CH 6- His Responsibility

**AN: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and Mass Effect is owned by Bioware (and probably others). Check out both series if you have not.**

So I am introducing another familiar character to those that played the ME series. One thing I realized about this series is how little history is provided for some of the characters in the game. This of course means I get to make it up to my benefit!

I'm loving the curiosity generated by my story and I hope you will enjoy some (but not all) of your questions being answered in the later chapters. I'm trying to keep about three chapters ahead of what I release that way if life happens and I can't write for a bit, I'll have some saved up to post anyhow.

To address one thing that a few people have either asked or suggested; I do not know if I will pair Harry off in this story. To do so or not do so changes the direction and feel of the story. I know it will not happen in the ME1 story arch regardless so I've not decided yet. It definitely will not be Harry/Shep as I have different plans for their relationship. Anyways, on with the story.

**CH 6**

The first week of school was kind of a mixed affair. Harry started his morning with his mathematics taught by a glowing VI woman. The classes were taught in his private room so Harry didn't make much effort to make himself presentable. Harry felt like he was being taught by a Hogwarts ghost except that she didn't manage to put him to sleep. She was able to help Harry as needed and he was moving through his math work at a good rate. History and science were taught much the same in the afternoon. He got caught up to speed on some of the big events that happened in the last century. He learned that humans found mass effect technology on Mars which launched them into the rest of the galaxy. He learned how this tech worked, for the most part anyhow. He was quickly getting the feeling that he would never design the next biotic implant or VI, but he at least knew what Mass Effect fields were.

Literature and literacy went really well with Harry. He had a good grasp on reading and knew how to write essays thanks to his time at Hogwarts. His teacher gushed over the fact that Harry could actually write in _cursive_ with a_ pen_! The others in the class thought this was funny, but it did allow Harry to move onto the next level by the end of the week. Technical Proficiency however was a nightmare this week.

"OK class, today we're going to practice small electronics repair using our omni-tools. I've loaded the instructions on the console in front of you and you have your supplies, begin."

Harry felt this professor taught oddly similar to a certain greasy git. The old sink or swim school of thought.

"Um, dude… your motherboard is on fire." his desk partner said.

"AH!" Harry said, attempting to blow out the flame.

Harry's antics drew laughter from his classmates. His professor came over and replaced his motherboard with broken piece of metal.

"Perhaps you should start by just welding this together. I have more when you're done."

Physical education was something new to Harry. He had never been out of shape, but he had no idea what it meant to be _in _shape. He did fine on his run around the above ground track in the large gymnasium, but was soon red in the face and huffing on calisthenics with the class. The second half of the period was a free activity time period. Harry was wondering what to do when one of the other boys, Carl, in his class suggest he try out the MCMAP course. Not seeing any more interesting options (not like they know much about Quidditch) he followed them into the practice room. After his 45 minutes were up, he hurt all over. Apparently MCMAP was the Systems Alliance martial arts program. It had been updated from its predecessor to integrate fighting with some of the other Citadel races and was taught by a VI controlled mech.

Mechs hit pretty hard when you aren't ready.

Either out of sheer masochism or because some of the other boys said he did well and he was desperate for friends, he decided to give the class another shot. Harry managed to tough it out for the week.

Biotics training was a flop. Harry couldn't do any of what he saw in the vids that Dr. Sanders showed him, but he wasn't alone. While a couple of students could put up a couple of impressive barriers or lift objects, most silently tried to move small objects placed in front of them. They would continue until they got a tough headache or time was up.

Harry stared at the ball of paper in front of him. He felt like he was in Flitwick's class all over again, trying to lift a feather. 'It's levi-O-sa' he thought to himself. The ball of paper sat there motionless, mocking him. Some of the others were able to get their objects moving around a bit, the purple glow surrounding them. Some of the others noticed his lack of progress and smirked at him.

After an uneventful first class, he went back to his room that evening and locked the door. He dug around in his trunk that evening until he found a book simply titled Wandless Wizardry. It was an old leather bound book and Harry carefully started reading the exercises in it. He began to practice the simple light spell. It had him set his wand on the floor and hold his hand above it when saying the incantation. After a few tries his wand tip lit without him touching it. It was much like his experience during the Dementor attack before his fifth year. He had to practice this over and over again, moving the wand further and further out. By the time dinner was there, he could light his wand from over two meters away. Harry decided to keep working the exercises every night before dinner.

Harry was decidedly unpopular at Grissom Academy after his first week. Others seemed to view him as inept due to his performance in some of his shared classes and his private classes made him appear to be a shut in. He got a bit chummy with some of the others in MCMAP class since there seemed to be camaraderie in beating on each other, but otherwise few people talked to him. Harry did make one friend by the end of the week so not all was lost:

"Hey you."

Harry looked up from his lunch at the feminine voice that was speaking to him. He noticed it was the girl from his tech and PE class. She was an older girl and had pretty Asian features like Cho Chang did. She often hid her face behind a black hoodie she wore.

"Hi" Harry said, tentatively.

"No need to be shy. We're going to be friends after all."

"We are?"

"Of course, no one seems to like talking to either of us and we outcasts need to stick together, right?"

"Um...sure?"

"Great! So you're the new kid in the biotic program right? Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, what's your name?"

"You can call me Kasumi. I'm in the technical development program."

"What's that like?"

"If you ask me it's pretty boring."

"Why?"

"Well because they want us to develop things approved by Citadel guidelines. Where's the fun in that? Why not a drone that can hack into any system or shields that make you invisible or a program that can bust any code lock without slathering omnigel all over it!"

On and on Kasumi went. She was quite talkative and she had a LOT of private information on people in their class. Harry wondered how much she knew about him.

"Well Harry it's been a nice chat. I'll stop by your room in the morning to go get breakfast. See ya!"

On his way to his next class Harry had an odd realization… he never told her where his room was.

The next couple of months went by with a lot of improvement for Harry. He was in university level literature and literacy since he liked to read and his writing was some of the best in the class thanks to his teachers doting attention on his work. He even wrote his poetry assignment with quill and ink. He worried that she was going to frame it and put it on her classroom wall. He progressed well in math, but wasn't going to develop the next leap in FTL drives any time soon. Science was average for him as well. He still had trouble wrapping his head around element zero and its properties. History was really interesting and Harry had no problems falling staying awake. Muggle history was fascinating and a lot more relevant that the Goblin Rebellions. Physical Education finally wasn't an object lesson in torture for Harry anymore. He was able to keep up and even started outstripping one or two others in class. The group in MCMAP was happy that Harry could finally land a few hits and disarms on them finally. Tech class was still a joke for him. He finally could solder together wires on a motherboard, but the others had moved on to more advanced work. He at least could play some good tunes on his omni-tool without accidentally turning on his flashlight now.

Biotics class was where he was starting to shine. Harry spent every night and several hours on the weekend working his wandless magic exercises. He was finally able to do most of the basic spells from his first two years at Hogwarts completely without his wand. He was felt some relief as he now could do magic in front of others, but they assumed it was all biotics for him. His classmates and instructor were very interested in how his "biotics" didn't telegraph like the others. A levitation charm looked a lot like pull, but there was no telltale purple ball or field. He wondered how they would react if he transfigured his paper ball into a mouse, but figured it wouldn't go over too well. He did feel the need to hold back a bit since he worried about drawing too much attention. There's a difference between being special and being special _among_ specials.

He had made a point to write Michael Kent at least weekly. Kent had been the primary reason why he didn't quit the MCMAP course and he was constantly encouraging Harry to push to the next level in his classes. Harry was grateful to the older man as Harry was not used to having an adult care, but at the same time encourages him to constantly grow.

Dr. Sanders had finally started to grow on Harry. At first Harry felt that she wanted something out of him and viewed him as an asset. Harry quickly saw that she cared about all of her students and wanted the best for them. However, she did push her students to their limits and for this he was glad he was not in the technical development program. According to Kasumi she could be a grueling task mistress. She was particularly concerned with developing new implants for biotics. Harry later learned why. His biotic classmates all had them and apparently were the source of the headaches that they experienced. For some they would go away with time and practice. Others constantly dealt with pain as they grew older. Kasumi was more interested in her side projects, but added her unique input on things.

Harry's friendship with Kasumi was very odd. The day after they had met, Harry had left his room to find her waiting for him.

"Is your hair always that wild?" she asked, smirking under her hoodie.

"Yeah, can never get it to calm down. How did you know where my room was?"

"I followed you back a couple nights ago."

"I didn't see you."

"You weren't meant too."

She would continue on like this over the next few weeks.

"You should really get some different underwear. Tighty whities are soooo boring."

"What?!" Harry said, checking to see if they were showing on him.

"Don't worry, you look great. I noticed them in your dresser yesterday."

"When were you in my room?"

"When you were in Biotics. Seriously though, girls don't go for that sort of thing."

That night when Harry got back, He found six pairs of colored boxers in his dresser. One pair was black with little roses on them. Harry spent that night learning and charming his dresser with a muggle repellant ward. Kasumi looked very frustrated two days later, but cheered when Harry told her that he liked her present.

Meal times were pretty informal at Grissom Academy. Harry would show up and select the items he wanted from a counter and grab a seat. The only thing he was required to have daily were vitamin supplements or a glass of Nutreen. Turns out it is a processed fizzy drink with added nutritional supplements. It has a reputation with people now as Ovaltine did back in Harry's time. Harry started taking the other supplements as he grew tired of the drink pretty quickly. Harry did notice, however, that he didn't look quite so small anymore. He and Kasumi would often share lunch together with Carl and a few of the other "knuckle heads" from MCMAP class. Carl would go on and on about his plans to enlist, see new planets, fight a few Krogan mercs, and run away with an Asari princess. Kasumi would bring him out of the clouds by reminding him that he would probably get stationed on one colony, get thrashed by the Krogan's krantt, and that there were no such things as asari princesses. Still, Harry enjoyed his stories and dreams, and he would often solicit more stories from Carl when things were quiet.

Harry began to feel a bit at home here like he had at Hogwarts. Unlike Hogwarts, however, Harry wasn't constantly belittled by Snape, attacked by vegetation or large beasts, or Death Eater wannabes trying to torture him with a pen. Harry started to see how the house system at Hogwarts was a large point of contention. There was nothing like that here. No one really competed academically with anyone else. Since all of their classes were self-paced of sorts, they weren't fighting for first in class. Socially, sure, he thought he was at the bottom because of his oddities, but that was getting better as he managed to grasp the basics here. He knew that if he ever got back, he would take the lessons on _how_ to teach from Grissom Academy with him.

Harry was starting to enjoy himself. The main problem with that is he would begin to feel guilty whenever he started to have a bit of fun. He thought about his friends back in his time and felt it was his responsibility to save them. The more these thoughts happened the more resolved Harry was to somehow go back and "fix" it. He wasn't sure what _it_ was though. He needed to do more research, more training. Most of all, right now, he needed to figure out how to keep Kasumi from changing his bed sheets or shirts to pink girly colors.


	7. CH- 7- Little Firebird

**AN: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. Mass Effect is owned by Bioware (and probably others). I certainly don't own them, bit thank them for letting my imagination play in their backyards.**

So this chapter will have a different format as I am going to cover/summarize a lit of time here. If I really wanted to drag this story out, I could. I'd rather get moving towards more of the conflict in ME. I'm am currently trying to hash out Eden Prime. I forget how boring that mission is compared to the rest of the game and especially the series overall. I might make some changes to what happens for originality's sake and to make it more interesting.

There have been some interesting questions or responses to this story so far. I do have plans for "magic" overall and it's place in the greater universe. There are a lot of vague questions in the ME universe that never get answered fully. A lot of this is probably due to the change in the ending they wanted from ME2 to ME3. These gaps however leave room for creativity and I plan on having some fun with this.

A final note; I love the comments about how Harry should start a harem in order "repopulate the magical world." I don't plan on Harry having a harem or a pairing for that matter. I might use the idea of last wizard Harry having this as his mission for a possible crack fic I might write down the road. Same set up, but maybe the Fall Out future instead?

* * *

**CH 7**

Please Log In:

KSanders11703

Password:

Verify Encryption Key:

Welcome Dr. Sanders

Command: Access- Black Label file

Black Label files require Alliance Access Keys. Please enter them now:

Access Granted. Select File.

Command: Access file- Potter, H.

* * *

Student Log Potter, H: Entry 7/13/2180

Alliance report:

Potter has been making significant progress in his biotics training. He is able to lift objects weighing over 300 kilograms and throw them as well. His training will be shifted towards more combat applications once more research into his abilities is done. We are still not able to determine the source of his abilities. He has no known eezo nodules in his brain and certainly does not have an amp of any sort on him. Recommendation at this time is that Alliance Command continue to monitor his development and limits. A log blackout is still recommended at this time.

Personal Notes:

Harry has been one surprise after another this month. I wonder how I worried if he had any intellectual disabilities in the beginning. He has progressed far in his self-studies and doesn't realize that his mathematics has moved into University level work thanks to VI tutoring. He has a great grasp on literature and writing, more than most. I almost don't have the heart to remove him from the course, but he has progressed as far as possible in it. I may ask his professor to get him reading materials for his own study, should he be interested. I plan on placing him in infantry strategy and tactics training. I am hesitant to do this as he will be suspicious about our intentions. I still remember his reaction whenever he thought we were going to force him to enlist. Despite this I still feel it is necessary. He is going to be a hunted man when he is older. With the Alliance he will have a large degree of protection. I worry what will happen to the boy if undesirables learn of his unique talents.

In that regard I feel it will be time to come clean to him about his situation. He probably won't react well, but he needs to have all the cards in front of him. I fear that not telling him this will result in damaged property when he finds out on his own. I am glad I spoke to Officer Kent and convinced him to write to Harry before we left. Harry seemed to trust him and Kent understood the gravity of Harry's predicament. From Harry's messages to him lately, he seems to respect the man's opinions. I will try and refrain from using that tool if I can. Harry and Carl have grown close much to my relief. I only asked Carl to invite Harry to the MCMAP training, but he seems to have taken him under his wing a bit. Hopefully this will offset some of the more reckless tendencies of Ms. Cao.

I am glad to see Harry is happy though. I still remember the haunted look in his eyes. I still notice it from time to time, but Kasumi and Carl seem to make it go away for a while. I hope that Harry will see reason with my plan.

* * *

Student Log Potter, H: Entry 10/31/2180

Alliance Report:

Potter is more capable of combat applicable biotics than we first estimated. He is able to disintegrate targets similar to some of the other students "warp" talents and is able to cause a targeted explosion similar to a biotic detonation. He does not need two mass effect fields reacting to do this however. These are some of the first biotics he has shown that telegraph. These however are red in color. We are still no closer to identifying the source of his abilities. Our instructor finally asked Potter if he knew the source of his abilities. He said he couldn't explain it, and claims to have been born this way. We are going to start exploring some of the other possible limits of his abilities and see if he can imitate, in his own way, the biotic talents of other races.

His education has now shifted towards more tactics and leadership. We are focusing his biotic training to being comfortably performed using his off hand. He has shown some aptitude for this. Integration of biotic combat with small arms combat will be the next step. He has enrolled in the Alliance ROTC program, but has not signed a commitment at this time. We hope that he will become attracted to the lifestyle as he does have a bit of wanderlust it seems.

Recommendation: If a term of service is signed, a mobile assignment is recommended; possibly shipboard service.

Personal Notes:

Harry has been much more active lately. He has taken to the military classes with a zeal I thought not possible of him. I managed to catch a conversation today between him and Ms. Cao. She asked him why he is suddenly interested in combat training and military strategy. He simply said "Because I have to save them. No more will die because of me." Perhaps Officer Kent's theory about slavers is correct and he feels a need to fight for the ones he has lost. He has been brooding all day today and I wonder if today holds something significant to him.

Carl has been ecstatic about the prospect of Harry signing up, and has been talking frequently about their futures together. I hope his enthusiasm does not push Harry away, but Harry appears to take it in stride. Ms. Cao on the other hand doesn't share Carl's sentiment. She doesn't have much love for the Alliance it seems and possibly doesn't want Harry to enlist when he graduates. I can only be glad that she has not pressured Harry to following her beliefs. It saddens me to think that Harry's best friends here are aging out in a few months. Carl will be off to Alliance Basic and Finishing. Ms. Cao to wherever she decides to settle. Harry will be at a vulnerable time after this, but perhaps it will be the chance he needs to step out into his own.

Harry, how far you have come in so little time. I worried that you would leave us when I finally broke the truth to you. I am glad you did not.

* * *

Student Log Potter, H: Entry 01/20/2181

Alliance Report:

Potter continues to progress in biotic combat and has integrated well with heavy pistols, SMG's, and AR's. He does not have an aptitude for long range ballistics and cannot properly utilize his talents with a shotgun. Testing against shields and barriers in practice situations shows promise but will require further testing. Potter has moved on from all grade level academics and has completed two University competencies in mathematics and literature/literacy. He is exclusively in military academics and alien languages (Turian and Asari) now. He has shown leadership qualities and has taken to assisting other biotic students on applying their abilities to combat drills despite not being able to use the same abilities exactly. At my request, I asked him if he could tell if anyone else could use his unique talents. He returned with a black stick from his room. He said that sometimes a focus helps and he had the other biotics hold it. Nothing happened. He claimed that they may not have been born like him. Further observations will be required.

Recommendation: Small unit tactical training with other specialists is advised.

Personal Log:

Harry, you never cease to amaze me.

I've noticed that he has branched out to the others in his classes now that Carl and Ms Cao have left. He has become well-liked by the others for his willingness to help and seems to have a knack for teaching. If he was a regular biotic I'd let him teach those classes. We've been talking more and I finally told him about Cerberus in detail. He claims he will be cautious in the future. I hope he will.

On a side note, some of the other students started calling him firebird when he kept setting electronics on fire in technical training class. It's endearing and I've taken to calling him that. He seemed to like it as well.

* * *

Student Log Potter, H: Entry 07/20/2182

Alliance Report:

Potter has become an asset worth investing in during his training at Grissom Academy. He trains alone now as it has become apparent that he does not learn biotics in the same manner as anyone else. His abilities continue to grow. When questioned on any new skills he has obtained he claims to have learned some ability to detect thoughts to a small degree. This has been documented in some asari biotics and could prove useful if developed more. Potter's abilities were tested against armors and shields of various designs. He can break through most to the same degree of effectiveness as other biotics so he has been approved for combat.

Potter has signed a term of service contract.

Contract includes: Alliance finishing school, sign bonus of 100,000 credits (with allowance for armor and weaponry), service with a mobile unit (Alliance discretion on what type of mobile), and an X700 series omni-tool (military grade).

Recommendation: Shipboard service. Infantry and small unit tactics combat. Technical/Engineering responsibilities NOT advised.

Personal Notes:

My Harry is finally leaving the nest. It gets harder every year when you lose kids that you grow close to. I'm glad we were able to make it past some of our previous hurdles. Despite his apparent hesitation, he has become a fine soldier. I don't care if he is technically not one yet, he is the finest soldier I've seen come out of our biotics program. It will be hard to replace him in combat training drills. He had a knack for teaching a unit to use their biotics in combat. We'll have to look for someone to take his place.

I noticed that 1st Lieutenant Carl Jameson wrote Harry and is excited about his enlistment. I hope those two will serve together at some point, but his current assignment is a long haul on a colony detail. The terms of Harry's contract will make this unlikely. I've seen no messages from Ms. Cao coming to Harry. In fact, she has not written in some time. This is probably for the best.

Oh little firebird, you are going to soar once you leave the nest.

End Log

* * *

Kasumi closed access to the terminal before anyone for the Systems Alliance could trace her location.

"Oh my, little bro has been making some waves with the Alliance." she said, smiling under her hood.

"How big of waves are we talking about?" a man next to her asked.

"Oh nothing much Keiji, just big enough to require an Alliance black label protocol on all information regarding him."

"What! Are you crazy? We need to get out of here before the Alliance traces us!"

"Oh hush. I cut the feed in time and scrubbed the channels."

"What does this have to do with our job anyhow?"

"Nothing. I was just bored and decided that I needed to check on Harry." she said smugly. "Now let's get back to the job Keiji. You need to quit fooling around so much."

He scoffed at her, but prepared to leave. Kasumi turned away and whispered privately to herself; "Fly high little firebird."


	8. CH 8- Find what you're looking for

**AN: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and Mass Effect is owned by Bioware (and others probably). Read the books or play the games if you haven't already.**

So we're moving Harry right along. There will be an implied leap of time again in this chapter, but not much. We're finally moving right along. Some have asked the time frames that we're talking in the ME universe so let me give you the years that our relevant. This story started off in 2180. Harry finished school some time in 2182. The opening of ME1 happens in 2183.

I appreciate the reviews and comments. I'm not going to lie when I say I didn't expect this story to be received so well. Thank you all for taking the time to write.

* * *

**CH 8**

Harry sat in the open air cafe near Whitehall tower sipping on his coffee. He smiled, thinking back to a time when he wouldn't touch the stuff. Now it seemed a necessary evil. It was a pleasant day in July and Harry felt like being outside for his work. He decided he could be a shut in all during his leave for his "special project" or he could at least "blow the stink off him" as Michael had put it. He was quietly listening to "All Along the Watchtower" while looking at satellite images of Scotland.

"I don't know, Jim. Is there some kind of way out of here?"

Harry started quietly laughing to himself.

"What's so funny son?"

Harry looked up to see Michael in his uniform walk up and pull out a chair from the table. He motioned to the waitress who left and returned with some coffee. He must have been a regular at this cafe for the motion to convey that much.

"Nothing you'd be interested in. How was the beat today?" Harry said before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Quiet and boring as it should be with Kent on the job." the older man said smugly.

"It's probably because there's an alliance soldier with a Phalanx strapped to his hip sitting in this cafe that is keeping the monsters at bay." Harry replied with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that, son. One day you'll be as tough as old Kent here and you'll have to hear it from some punk about how his crap doesn't stink and how he can out drink a krogan."

"And the punk will have to listen to how things aren't as good as they used to be." Harry then hunched over and continued with a dry creaky voice "When I was your age kids used to have to have an omni-tool _and _a cell phone and we walked to the skycar pad uphill, both ways, in the snow."

"This conversation makes me sure glad I agreed to let you come visit." Michael replied dryly.

"You're glad and you know it." Harry replied haughtily.

"Well, yeah… anyways what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm taking another Skycar out to Scotland."

"That's been like, what...four times this week? What are you looking for if you don't mind me asking?"

"My past…" Harry said, trailing off and growing quiet.

"Oh!" Michael said, growing sheepish. "Well… if you find it and need me to put a bullet in it, you let me know."

Harry grinned before replying "I think we established yesterday that I'm more qualified to put a bullet in things."

"Well that was yesterday. We still get rounds two and three later on."

"You just want more time to practice." Harry mumbled under his breath.

"You hush before I put a bullet in your leg." Michael growled.

* * *

Harry was flying due north from London in a Skycar he rented for the day. He wasn't sure of the model since they all looked the same to him and he certainly was NOT going to try and poke around under the hood. It was red and that was all that mattered to him. He had figured out where Kings Cross station was after a couple of days spent in the archives in the London Library. Kings Cross was now a fancy shopping center as trains became useless once mass accelerator drives were created. He was now zipping along at high speeds, seeing open grassland dotted with little villages. He chuckled to himself when he realized that he and Ron had made this same trip before their second year in his the flying car they had stolen from Mr. Weasely.

"I hope I land in a tree with a career in boxing this time."

Thinking of his friend brought back a stab of grief as it always did. Harry still missed them greatly, but it wasn't as painful as it used to be. He could now think back on his more enjoyable times without losing himself to brooding. He had his new friends here to thank for that now. Carl would always be oblivious to Harry's brooding and go on talking about grand things, Kasumi would pull him out of his funk with her sharp wit or theft of his linens, Dr. Sanders would offer matronly advice and push him further, and Kent would offer calm reassurance.

Despite his newfound friends, he had a duty to his friends in his time. That was why he was making his journey today. Like so many times this week, Harry was trying to find Hogwarts. He had returned dug around in the ministry for the first week of his leave. He had not turned up anything useful. Oh, there were loads of artifacts still down there, but he had no clue what some of them did or if they could help him. He looked over the books again and found nothing new that he could use for his goal that he hadn't already taken. Harry did grab a few potions texts and a copy of Hogwarts: A History for nostalgia's sake. Harry had started to grow frustrated in his search when he looked at the book in his hand and realized it.

"_Hogwarts!"_

Harry had recovered satellite photos of several regions he suspected Hogwarts of being in. He could not find an area that matched his memory. He then figured the place must have been unplottable as many magical sites were. He had taken several trips up to several regions before finally settling all of his hopes on this one. He flew for about an hour at high speed before slowing down in the suspected region. Harry spent the next hour seeing nothing that stood out to him. The sun was getting lower in the sky and Harry was about to give up when he saw it. Off in the distance the sun glinted a bit off the reflection of water. Harry turned his skycar in that direction when he saw Black Lake come into view. His heart leaped a bit in his chest.

To be safe, Harry decided to park the Skycar outside of where he thought Hogwarts to be.

_"Still not sure if magic will make it act up or not and I can't fix the damn thing if it does."_

Harry flew low and thought he saw structures in the distance. He landed in a clearing in what must have been the Forbidden Forest. Once he was out of the Skycar he remembered what used to live in these woods. He removed his M-5 from his belt and continued on with it in his hand. Soon, the trees cleared and Harry drew closer to what must have been Hogsmeade. As he neared, he saw that the buildings had obviously been burnt and there were several broken windows. He peered inside what must have been Honeydukes and saw charred wood and fallen roof timbers. Several of the other buildings around him had much the same look. The site of the Three Broomsticks was nothing but a few burnt posts that managed to remain erect.

Grimly, Harry continued on up the path to Hogwarts. He neared the gates and found the rusted remains of what must have been the gates laying in the dirt. Stepping over them he walked on. He noticed that the grounds had grown wild and he heard animals moving about in the grass. Harry brought his gun up a bit in case any of Aragog's children decided to pay a visit. He walked for a while longer and hadn't seen the towers or great door yet. He was feeling the old pit in his stomach again and was attempting to calm himself. He debated capping his emotions off completely, but that made casting hard. He might need his magic in case something went wrong.

Finally he saw it, but it was not what he had hoped for. Instead of the tall, magnificent towers of his old home, Harry saw a pile of ruin. There seemed to be no stone left on another its destruction was so complete. Harry stood there dazed for several moments. He had hoped he would find the answers he needed here. That he could finally do his DUTY and save his friends! Harry fell to his knees in the grass and pounded the ground in fury.

"No!" he screamed. "It's just not fair! Why did everyone else have to die but me!?"

Finally looking back up he allowed his eyes to scan around. His eyes caught sight of a black shape silhouetted by the sun. Heart hoping in vain, he moved closer to see what it was. Standing in front of him was a statue of a skull eating a serpent. There was no inscription or date. Harry didn't need either to know exactly what it was trying to say.

"They won." Was all Harry could say. All of his hopes of getting back were riding on this place. Hogwarts would have surely had the answers, but it was gone now. The Death Eaters had so fully beaten them, that there was hardly any sign of the once magnificent school.

"Those monsters!" Harry screamed.

In rage he thrust his left hand out and launched a curse at it, fueled with all of the anger and sadness he had filling him. The statue erupted into chunks of metal and flew back, littering the ground. Now it too looked like Hogwarts.

Harry sat on the ground and lay on his back. He looked up into the sky, crying softly to himself.

"Because of me. Because of me. They all died because of me. Because of me…" His murmuring continued past the setting sun.

* * *

Harry woke in the night to the sound of a soft crooning and a feeling of peace and contentment over him. Harry opened his eyes and felt for his gun. It was next to him and he brought it up. Activating the light on his omni-tool he scanned the beam around, looking for the source of the music. The light cast upon a familiar site and his heart leapt. Perched atop one of the rocks that once made up Hogwarts was a magnificent red bird.

"Fawkes!"

Harry rushed over to the old bird that had once been a faithful companion to his old headmaster.

"Fawkes, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!"

The bird chirped at Harry and snapped its beak at Harry's hand.

"What do you want?" Harry asked quizzically.

The bird snapped at his hand again and Harry extended it towards the scarlet bird. Suddenly, Fawkes lunged out and bit Harry's finger.

"Ow, what the heck was that for?"

Harry saw that the bird had a bit of his blood on his beak and Fawkes snapped at his hand again.

"No, you're going to bite me again."

Harry saw that the bird looked indignantly at him and snapped again. Harry noticed this time the bird had tears in its eye. Harry tentatively extended the injured hand and Fawkes lowered his head over it. Dropping a single tear onto the cut, it healed instantly. Harry quickly felt the presence of another being in the back of his mind.

"Did you just bond with me?"

The bird chirped brightly at this. Harry didn't know to be joyous or concerned.

"Fawkes, this is great, but I live among muggles now. How will I explain you to anyone?"

Fawkes cocked his head at Harry and seemed to ponder this for a moment. Then Fawkes flapped his wings and flew up to Harry to perch on his shoulder.

"I don't think this will make people less suspicious, Fawkes." Harry said sarcastically.

The bird pecked him on the head.

"Ow, sorry."

Harry then felt Fawkes heat up on Harry's shoulder and start to smolder. Before Harry could say anything, Fawkes disappeared into flame. Harry couldn't see his new companion anywhere, but could feel his presence still in his mind. It felt like a reassuring warmth of a friend you knew was next to you.

There was nothing left for Harry here, he knew that. What he had called his home was gone and he would not find the answers he needed here. He did feel that he was meant to be here for this reason and was glad he came, despite the pain he had felt earlier. He apparated back to the skycar. He was glad he learned a few things the Alliance didn't know like this as it made him harder to hunt should his skills be learned of by the wrong crowd. He climbed into the skycar with thoughts filled with mixed emotions. He had not found anything that helped him return, but he had found a friend. He also knew, however strange his companion was, that he wasn't alone in this galaxy now.

"At least magic didn't abandon everything."

* * *

Harry returned in the middle of the night to Michael's place and opened the door. Harry walked into the entryway and past the photos of a younger dark skinned man, a younger Michael surely, and a beautiful young woman, his late wife. Harry wondered why Michael never talked about her. Harry was quietly making his way to the couch he was crashing on for his visit. Michael was waiting up for him in the living room, sitting in his armchair.

"Out late tonight." Michael said flatly.

"Yeah." Harry replied.

There was a pause before Michael asked. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I found an old friend."

"Good." he said with finality. "And Harry."

"Yeah?"

"Call me next time you stay out late without letting me know."

Harry smiled and started pulling his shirt off to sleep.

"Alright, dad! Jeez!" he said laughingly.

"Whoa, son! Did this friend of yours convince you to get a tattoo?"

"Huh?"

Harry went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. On his back, spreading from shoulder to shoulder was what appeared to be a bright red tattoo of a phoenix in flight.

* * *

The next day Harry was back at the cafe waiting on Michael to finish up his route. He was drinking the usual coffee and reading a copy of Rudyard Kipling's works that his lit professor gave him as a parting gift. He looked up when he noticed a shadow cross his book. He noticed a dark skinned man in Alliance Naval Dress. Harry immediately set his coffee aside and stood at attention.

"Sir!" he belted out.

"At ease soldier."

Harry relaxed, but he remained standing. He wasn't sure what he needed to do as he was on leave and yet brass had someone here addressing him.

"Can I offer you anything, sir?" Harry asked.

"Just your time soldier." the older man replied. "I'm Captain Anderson and I am putting together a special crew."


	9. CH 9- The Best of You

**AN: Don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. **

So here's another chapter. I'm glad to see that my story is well received, for the most part. I did have a good laugh at how some people didn't like Harry having an emotional moment. If you have ever experienced loss, you know that it never leaves you. I think it wouldn't be realistic for Harry to ever really let the fact that everyone he ever knew being gone go. In the books he tends to carry around his grief and appears to use it as fuel to motivate his actions. It's OK if you don't like Harry having moments of grief (and I think this is due to a lot of fics having a highly "emo" Harry). I will say this; he will have moments where his past haunts him, but he will not curl up in a ball and quit because of it.

Also, it appears Fawkes was well received, and I received quite a few questions about him that I will not answer since we'll be revisiting this as the story progresses.

Have fun reading and Favorite/Follow if you enjoy it.

* * *

**CH 9**

_"Can I offer you anything, sir?" Harry asked._

_"Just your time soldier." the older man replied. "I'm Captain Anderson and I am putting together a special crew."_

* * *

Harry looked at the older man. He was a somewhat gruff looking man with obvious signs of age on his face. Harry wondered about this as people tended to look younger than they did back in his time due to the advances in medicine this time enjoyed.

_"He's either much older than I've heard or he's been through the ringer one too many times."_

Harry did notice the man looked friendlier than he appeared in the vids he had seen. Oh, Harry knew of Captain David Anderson. He completed the N7 program, a feat in and of itself, was honored by Harry's alma mater's namesake, Jon Grissom, and served in the First Contact Wars. Yes, Harry had heard of Anderson. Now Harry wanted to know what he was doing in Whitehall district of London talking to him at a simple cafe.

"So how can I assist you sir?"

Anderson slid over a small view tablet to Harry. Harry picked it up and began reading it over.

"I'm being re-assigned?" Harry said with surprise.

"Yes." Anderson stated matter-of-factly. "I said I am putting together a crew and I wanted the best. The Alliance agreed with my request and forwarded a list of specialists. Your name was among them."

"OK, but why me?" Harry asked.

"Your marksmanship scores are among the best in the alliance with medium range weaponry, you've ranked among the top percentile in combat simulation in finishing, and the past six months of active service have shown you can handle real combat scenarios."

Harry felt a bit bashful at having his recent accomplishments laid out before him. Someone or several someones must have been keeping a close eye on his progress.

"Alright." Harry began. "So I am good with a gun and taking out slavers. You're purposefully leaving out the obvious so why not say it, sir."

"Well, your special talents are obvious. I want someone on our ground crew that can do what you do. You are among the best I hear."

"I am also the one no one understands. Sir, I am not arguing the placement. It is a real honor, but surely there are better choices in this galaxy."

"That may be soldier, but few have the recommendations that you do."

"Who would recommend me to Captain Anderson? I've only had my current CO for six months."

"Dr. Kahlee Sanders gave it."

"Well… that explains it then." was all Harry could say.

"Unless you have more questions, you have your assignment right there." Anderson said, referring to the tablet. "I'll expect you there tomorrow morning at 0900 for a ship wide briefing."

"Aye aye, Sir."

* * *

Harry returned to Michael's flat and read over his orders. They were typical of shipboard service: rotating duties, everything you own must fit in a tall locker, and allowable shore leave on non-sensitive dockings. He had served on an Alliance frigate before and was familiar with it. He would miss being able to "spread out" a bit like he did at school or Michael's, but he quickly got used to.

"_Besides, I can fit everything I own into the space of a deck of cards." _Harry mused to himself.

What was unusual about this assignment was the quiet nature of it. It appeared to be an experimental ship that was a joint turian and human project. Harry assumed that this was another olive branch between the two governments to increase friendly relations. There was still a lot of bad air between them and Harry could see why. A lot of people lost someone close to them or knew someone who did in the First Contact Wars. Harry wondered if the placement of Captain Anderson, a hero from that war, was intentional. He was sitting on "his" couch reading the details of his assignment when Michael walked in.

"Didn't see you at the cafe today." He said with a questioning air.

"Had to return here. I got a sensitive assignment from command." Harry said absently, still focused on his assignment. "I have to ship out tomorrow."

"It must be a big one if they don't mind cutting into your leave time."

"It is."

"Well, things will be dull around here once you leave. I'm going to be eating piss poor again during breakfast."

"It is not that hard to make a decent plate of scrambled eggs, Mike."

"Yeah, well… it is when you're too lazy to actually do it."

They sat in silence for a while. They often did that at Michael's place. Both men tended to enjoy each other's company and didn't feel the need to fill the silence. Finally Michael spoke up.

"It sure is going to be quiet around here with you gone."

Harry snorted and looked over at Michael.

"I don't think it could be any quieter around here, Mike."

"Well… it will still be quieter when you go."

Harry grinned to himself. The old man wouldn't say it, but he was going to miss having Harry around. He would miss his first friend in this time as well.

* * *

Harry arrived at the docking port at 0800 to report for his assignment. There were a few others in field or dress uniform milling around the ramp leading into the large frigate. Harry was impressed by the design. Granted Harry was often impressed by ships he saw. They were all massive to him and he always marveled that such large objects could move through the sky. However, this ship had a grace all unto itself. There appeared to be four massive thrusters that lent an appearance of wings on its sides. The main hull was sleek and smooth, more like asari ships than many Alliance vehicles. However, unlike asari builds, this was the sleekness of a predator. Yes, Harry was quite impressed with the SSV Normandy.

Harry hung back from the crowd. Many were carrying rucksacks slung over their shoulders and conversing amiably. No one appeared to be very familiar with each other and wanted to get to know their new shipmates. Harry, however, hung back and sifted through the surface thoughts of some of these people. Harry had worked on this talent a great deal while at Grissom after much pressure from Dr. Sanders to learn such a skill. She was right that it would protect him from people that meant him harm if he knew their intentions from the start. He spent many nights in his private room going over some of his books on the subject of legilimency. He discreetly practiced it on the others students whenever he could look them in the eyes. It paid off when he could start reading surface thoughts after about a year of practice. Harry noticed that most of the people waiting around the ship were obviously nervous or excited, and he couldn't feel anything amiss in the crowd. Since leaving Grissom academy, he was always on guard for a possible Cerberus plant.

After about an hour, right at 0900, the hatch to the Normandy hissed. Harry pushed off the wall, knowing this sound to be a sign that the door was opening. Others had noticed it too and turned their attention toward the sound. The hatch opened and Captain Anderson walked out flanked by a red haired woman in dress uniform. Everyone came to attention when they appeared.

"At ease, everyone." Anderson said after returning the salute. "Before I let everyone board, I want to say a few words. This crew was handpicked by me or XO Shepard here. I won't go into detail, but the last captain and crew had some difficulties on this ship and we are not going to repeat that while I'm on board. You've all been briefed on your assignments prior to reporting here, so I don't need to insult you by ordering you further. Everyone, report to your stations. Ground team; meet up XO Shepard at 1000 hours in the briefing room."

With that, Anderson and Shepard turned and walked back inside. Harry picked up his bag where he dropped it and started to make his way towards the ramp. Harry noticed a bearded man in field uniform with an Alliance ball cap on having difficulty with his bag. Harry walked over to him and bent to assist the man.

"I can carry it on my own. I'm not some old lady needing help with her groceries." the man said.

Harry looked up at him and felt his embarrassment through his eyes. Harry noticed his flight bars on his shoulder and the slight limp and decided to help the man save face.

"Sorry, just figured I'd win points early with the man that will be the difference between making it to my next mission and dying an early, flaming death." Harry said with a grin.

The man laughed to Harry's relief. "Sorry for snapping at you. Most figure I can't do anything on my own and want to handle me with kid gloves. That or they are really into men with broken bones. Not sure which I prefer. Name's Jeff, but most call me Joker."

"Mine's Harry." he replied, extending his hand. Joker took and shook it lightly. "So, you're flying this beauty?"

"You bet your ass I am! You should see how she handles. Loads better than most Alliance frigates. Those feel like trying to attach mass effect drives to boulders and hoping to not get shot down."

"As long as I do not suffer the aforementioned flaming death, I'm sure it will be fine."

"Don't worry. I could probably pilot a boulder better than some flying Alliance standard frigates. You won't have to worry about frying in your sleep."

Harry chuckled at that and helped Joker shoulder his pack before heading up the ramp ahead of him. He made it inside and was met with the typical blue theme that most ships seemed to have.

_"Would it kill anyone to have some earth tones aboard a ship?"_

Harry walked down the long flight deck and around the command deck. It was turian in layout which would take Harry some getting used to. He made his way towards the stairs marking the crew deck. Descending he looked around the corner to see the mess hall and sleeping pods. He waited at the elevator with a few others. Stupid thing seemed to be taking forever. Once it arrived he stepped inside and they started riding down. It did take forever! On the cargo deck Harry saw an M35 Mako to his left, signs indicating that engineering was behind him, and lockers to his left. Seeing his destination, he made his way over to the lockers, and he began loading his gear into his assigned locker. He noticed that his armor had been transferred from his old assignment and was waiting for him here: a set of red and black Titan class armor that he had seen through a few rough missions. Harry stowed his rucksack above this. Harry always kept his "special" gear shrunk and attached to his leg under his pants with a strap. He also kept his wand attached to a wrist holster on his left forearm for the few times he needed it. He kept both of these disillusioned to be invisible to anyone else, so he was never without supplies. He had also taken to keeping a few extra guns inside his trunk, just in case. Not for the first time, Harry wondered if having the old aurors trunk made him as paranoid as its previous owner.

_"Constant vigilance." _Harry thought to himself, shutting his locker. He milled around the storage area for a while, deciding to enjoy what little time he would have to himself before life on the ship really settled in. Shortly before 1000, Harry made his way up to the briefing room. It was a pretty spacious area with decent seating for an Alliance vessel. He noticed another man across from him. He kept his hair nicely parted about which Harry wondered how long that lasted in the field. Harry had taken to keeping his hair short since his wild mess of hair would never fit Alliance standards. Truthfully, he barely resembled the skinny kid with messy hair, broken glasses, and ill-fitting clothes he did before. He had filled out and grew a few centimeters thanks to the added nutrition. He no longer required glasses either as vision correction had come a long way. Harry still had his scar on his forehead and never tried having it removed. He wanted it there as a reminder anytime he looked into a mirror.

A few moments after Harry sat down he was standing at attention as Anderson and Shepard walked in.

"At ease, everyone." Anderson said. "For future notice you won't have to constantly rise to attention when we're aboard this ship. We'll see enough of each other and that will get old fast. So you two are aware that you are a part of our ground team. Potter, Alenko, this is Commander Shepard. She will be leading your team on the ground. I'll expect you to obey any commands she has when in the field, is that understood."

"Yes, Sir!" Harry and whom he assumed was Alenko replied.

"Good. We have a special assignment which we'll inform you of once we're close to our destination. In the meantime, we have a special guest on board our ship."

At this a tall turian with reddish brown skin walked in. He had white tribal markings on his face and wore black armor with red highlights.

"This is Spectre Nihlus Kryik. He will be accompanying you three on your assignment. I expect cooperation with him. Kryik, would you like to add anything?"

"No, Captain Anderson. I expect that your team will perform as expected." The Spectre replied. Harry wondered if that was a compliment or a slight against them.

"Alright then. Shepard, I'll leave you to discuss anything you need with your team." Anderson said, turning to leave with Nihlus following.

The red-haired officer turned towards them and began. "As the Captain said, I'm Commander Shepard. You two both came with good recommendations, so I expect the best out of you. If you cannot perform, you'll be re-assigned. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." They both replied.

"Good. In the meantime I want you both to get settled in. Alenko, as you have the technical expertise, I want you to go over the team's shield emitters and assist with any maintenance on the ship. Potter, I hear you are good at gun and armor maintenance. I want you going over all of our equipment. Make sure they are in top shape. If any repairs on tech are needed ask Alenko for assistance. If you need me, I will either be in my quarters on deck two or on the command deck. Fall out."

* * *

Harry made his way back down to the storage level and made his way over to the weapons bench. He opened the weapons locker and pulled out the first weapon he saw, a standard Avenger series assault rifle, and placed in on the table. He began to field strip it. This was one of the few tasks Harry could perform on modern tech without making a mess of things. He, of course, was drilled this to the point of being able to do this blindfolded, so that is probably why. Harry did like to make a few modifications to this own weapons, however. Since most weapons relied on heat sinks to cool the weapon after every shot, they tended to overheat when fired too quickly. In a tough fire fight this could be a problem. Harry found that a small cooling rune etched into the heat sink helped to prevent this. He had to be careful that no one noticed he could fire his gun seemingly forever until the ammo block ran out. It was a small edge that Harry liked to have and would often sneak it onto the weapons of his unit. Alenko came over with an armful of shield emitters and set them at the other end of the table.

"I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and removed your shield emitter from your armor." he said, starting in on the first one.

"I appreciate it, actually. I'm not good at some of the more technical repairs. Well, except for guns."

"Well, we all have our part to play, so it seems."

"What part do you play?"

"Aside from the ground team, of course, I offer technical expertise. I am also a biotic so I lend that to combat support. You?"

"Biotic and combat specialist. I also clean guns and make a mean English breakfast."

Alenko chuckled "That's good to know. So another biotic, huh? What class of implant did they give you?"

"Uhh…" Harry said. He was not sure how much to tell him.

"Oh." Alenko said, sensing his hesitation. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. I know that can be a sensitive topic."

Harry met his eyes and searched for any deception in his thoughts. Finding none Harry said. "It's fine and you'll find out eventually. Actually, I don't have an implant. I can do stuff without one."

"Wow! OK, I can see why you weren't sure what to say. I understand the need for secrecy. Even a normal biotic has to be careful that he doesn't find himself on a dissecting table somewhere. Well, I'm glad you don't have to put up with the implants. They are a real pain, literally."

"Sorry to hear that." Harry said, with genuine sympathy. Many of his friends at school had to deal with pain from their implants too.

"Don't mention it. Well, why don't I play some tunes and we get to work stripping all this gear down."

"Sure." Harry said, grinning "Just please don't play any asari pop."

* * *

The Normandy spent six days flying to their destination. The location of the operation was kept quiet in fear of information leaks. With a new crew you had to be careful that no one was being paid on the side for this kind of intel. Between the other Council races, Batarians, the Shadowbroker, and Cerberus, someone wanted to know what everyone was doing. Harry spent the days going through the weapons and adding a few of his "special touches". He lightened the assault rifle he was using with a charm, but not so much where it was terribly noticeable. A few kilos and it didn't take away from the recoil absorption. He did apply the full cooling charm array to his weapon and some minor ones to the rest of the weapons. The others would overheat, eventually, but they should outlast nearly any other weapon in the field. They would also cool off faster.

Harry spent time getting to know the rest of the crew. A few stood out to him like Pressly, who seemed to dislike most aliens even if he didn't outright say it, and Chief Engineer Adams. Adams was nice to Harry, but seemed to know to not let Harry touch the sensitive equipment in the drive core. He seemed nervous that Harry was so close by engineering when down in storage, but relaxed when Harry said he wouldn't go in there unless something needed a bullet. Harry would spend his break time up on the flight deck messing with Joker:

"Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the SSV Normandy. Its fluhhubluh year long mission; to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before." Harry said, with his most dramatic voice.

"Uhh," Joker groaned. "I can't keep us from experiencing the flaming death you were so worried about if you keep butchering old poetry."

"You don't have to perform maintenance on our field gear with him. Just wait until he starts quoting song lyrics that no one alive remembers." Kaidan said from his seat.

"What? It's not like you're going to hit anything out here. We're in FTL flight right now and will be for the next two hours so shove it and listen to me quote the classics." Harry said.

"I swear I'd shoot you if the recoil wouldn't break my wrist." Joker grumbled.

"It was funny and you know it." Harry said indignantly.

Suddenly the com blared to life overhead. "Shepard, Potter, and Alenko; report to briefing."

"Finally, freedom." Joker said with relief.

Harry and Kaidan made his way to briefing. They had learned earlier that day that they were heading to Eden Prime, a colony out near the Terminus Systems. Harry had heard that it was beautiful there and was eager to see it. They reached briefing and saw Anderson, Nihlus, and Shepard waiting for them.

Anderson turned their attention to the view screen. "Now that we're all here, I can go over the mission details. Team, our scientists have uncovered a Prothean beacon."


	10. CH 10- The Enigmatic Geth

**AN: So I don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. Thank JK Rowling and Bioware for that. I just play in their backyards.**

So finally, some action. Eden Prime was a terribly dull mission in the game and I originally started to write this event as if nothing changed and hated it. I of course realized "Hey, Harry is here. What would/could be different?" So some things play out a bit different. I also take a bit of liberty with some of the "encounters" because they wouldn't be that exciting if I didn't. Mostly, I try and make the husks more creepy.

A lot of people have started to get curious again about Riddle and what happened to him. I like leaving things unknown so you'll have to wait for resolution on that front.

Overall, please Favorite/Follow if you enjoy the story. Reviews are welcome too.

* * *

**CH 10**

"Umm, did Nihlus just jump out the cargo bay door?" Harry yelled over the rush of wind flooding the storage area of the Normandy.

"He has jump jets built into his armor for fast infiltration." Shepard replied, attaching a cable to her belt.

Harry and Kaidan were doing the same. Their armor was certainly not built for jump jets.

"_I wonder if that is something we could budget?"_

Harry didn't figure they would ever get something like that as the Alliance usually dropped ground troops in shuttles or repelled down.

"Final check. Everyone got their gear?"

"Yes, ma'am." Harry and Kaidan replied together.

"Alright then. Drop in five."

They waited as Shepard counted them down and jumped backwards out of the ship. The cables let them drop swiftly, but safely to the ground. They landed at the same time and detached their cables. Harry readied his rifle. This made using his magic somewhat of a chore, but it was better to start with. He could solve a lot of combat problems with it and not have to worry about needing to use magic to solve his problems (and tire out faster). He could also get a few spells off while holding the rifle, but he wouldn't fire it with one hand while doing so. If he needed to shoot and cast, he would switch to his trusty Phalanx.

Harry grinned as Shepard pulled out her assault rifle as well and her eyes widened in confusion a bit.

"_She is really familiar with her guns if she noticed the weight difference that quickly."_

Shepard shrugged and said "Alright everyone, move out."

Shepard took point as they made their way towards the tower in the distance. Harry noticed they were near a small marsh of sorts. It was enclosed by oddly square cut rocks on the sides with native trees placed in and among them. They waded through the ankle deep water towards a small rise that narrowed out before entering the trees. Shepard slowed and signaled for them to stop. She signaled for Harry to take point and scout ahead. Harry knew why. This would be a good place to set up an ambush as it allowed for superior cover and little for a force that was moving in. Harry cautiously moved forward, keeping near to some rocks that extended from the natural wall on the sides.

His caution was merited as two drones of some unknown design flew out of the trees towards him, firing their guns. Harry was just able to duck behind the rock in time. He felt grit fly from the rocks as the projectiles impacted the stone and sent it up in a spray. Harry heard Kaidan and Shepard begin to return fire. When Harry noticed they had drawn the drones' attention, he rose up a little and brought his rifle to bear on the drones as well. He unloaded in the nearest one, breaking its shield just in time for Kaidan to hit it with a few well-placed rounds of his pistol. Shepard had managed to bring down the other drone by herself. Harry was impressed to say the least, but they didn't have time for pats on the back.

"You good, Potter?" Shepard asked, looking off towards the tower.

"Yes, Commander, they didn't even hit me." Harry replied rising up.

"Right then, let's move on."

They made their way into the grove of strange trees. The trunks were very asymmetrical and seemed to form strange wedge shapes near their bases. They were moving cautiously when more drones appeared. They took cover behind rocks or trunks and quickly shot them down.

"Where did these drones come from?" Kaidan asked after they dispatched this latest group.

"Don't know," Shepard replied. "It's not a design I've seen and it doesn't belong to the colony."

They continued forward and saw a break in the trees ahead. They heard gunfire in the clearing ahead and took cover behind trees at the edge of it. Peering around Harry saw a soldier in pink and white armor running towards them being hounded by two more drones. Her shields were taking hits from the drones as she was moving. She tripped and fell on her back as the drones closed in on her. She managed to take out the drones with her heavy pistol when she turned around.

"_Good shot." _Harry thought.

The team moved forward to assist when they saw a terrible sight in the distance. Harry recognized two geth soldier units up ahead. They had studied the geth at Basic and Harry was familiar with them. They had a civilian laid out on his back on some sort of tripod and he appeared to be out of it. Suddenly, the man was lifted into the air as he was impaled on some sort of spike that the tripod concealed.

"What the hell is that?" Harry said.

"Doesn't matter, shoot them!" Shepard yelled.

They took position and began unloading into the geth. These units had somewhat tougher shields that the drones had and took a while to break. The other soldier assisted and they were able to bring them down with no issues. Harry went over to the other soldier and lent her a hand up from her firing position. At the same time Shepard and Kaidan made their way over.

"You OK, soldier?" Shepard asked with some concern.

"Yes, ma'am. Gunnery Chief Williams, ma'am." she replied.

"Can you tell me what's going on here?"

"Not exactly, ma'am. My unit was completing a patrol around the perimeter when the geth struck. I got separated from my unit in the firefight and I had to fall back. The geth have been after me ever since."

"Do you know why they are here?"

"They must be after the beacon. We tried to get off a distress signal as soon as we could, but they must be jamming it somehow."

"Are you hurt or can you offer us assistance?" Shepard asked.

"Just some minor stuff, ma'am. I am fit for some payback." She replied with a determined set in her features.

"Good. Fall in and let's move out." Shepard ordered.

They moved up the hill and towards the spike that had impaled the man.

"Why would they do this?" Kaidan asked in disgust.

"Don't know," Williams replied, "But I'm going to kill all of the sick bastards responsible for it."

Harry moved toward the spike and placed a hand on the tripod. He felt something try and lightly brush against his mind, but was rebuffed by his mental shields. He jerked his hand back suddenly as if burned.

"What is it, Potter?" Shepard inquired.

"Nothing, it just felt...off… I guess." Harry replied, confused himself.

Harry wondered what the dark feeling the device had given him meant. It _definitely _impacted his occlumency shields, but why? How could any device, even one made by the enigmatic geth, have ANY effect on his mental shields? Harry had a nagging feeling that he knew the reason why it could, but he did not like the avenue that thought took.

They neared the white walls of what must have been Prothean ruins, and three geth started firing at them from cover. Shepard and Williams laid down suppressing fire while Harry sighted on his target. It was behind good cover and made a shot hard with the rifle, but not for Harry. Harry thrust out his hand and flicked it up. The geth rose suddenly into the air, its flashlight head turning from side to side in a mock form of confusion. Kaidan chose to let loose a biotic push and the geth was launched into the air with a lot of force. Harry banished the geth that Williams had pinned down into the opposite wall, stunning it. Williams let loose with her rifle into it, a stream of pinging noises emitting from its body as the bullets impacted it. Shepard again to take out the geth she was firing at by herself, the light on its head pierced by a well-placed shot.

"Good work, team. Keep it up." Shepard stated with satisfaction.

"If only the rest of the geth would be so nice as to not have shields." Harry remarked.

They combed over the dig site, but it was apparent that the beacon had been moved somewhere else.

"Things can never be easy, can they?" Shepard said dryly. "Williams, any idea where they would have moved it?"

"No, ma'am." Williams replied. "The dig camp is nearby and we might be able to find some of the research team there."

With Williams guiding the way, the team made their way up to the dig site camp. They came around the bend in the hills only to find a horrifying site. The camp was filled with a scene of carnage. There were several prefabs that looked to have the doors or shuttered windows ripped off. Harry saw puddles of gore, bodies that had been rendered to pieces by some animal. Shepard signaled for silence and motioned them forward. The team moved among the buildings slowly, checking corners for any surprises. They noticed a few of the tripods they had seen before scattered among the buildings.

_"What is happening here?" _Harry thought to himself.

Harry heard pounding and dry sounding moans around another building. Shepard moved to the side of the prefab they were at and peered around the corner. Whatever she saw caused her to jerk back and out of sight. She looked at the team and gave the hand signal for multiple targets. Shepard signaled to move and turned the corner around the building with Harry, Kaidan, and Williams following. Once Harry turned the corner, he saw a prefab surrounded by what looked like strange blue and black humans. They were pounding on the doors and shutters of the unit and Harry heard screams coming from inside. Some of the strange people were also climbing on the walls and roof of the unit with an unearthly ease that was eerie to behold. Harry readied his weapon in time for one of them to turn and notice them. It had empty, glowing eyes and it moaned at them with a dry, raspy voice. It started to run at Shepard.

"Stop or I will open fire!" Shepard demanded of the strange person. It kept running at her, arms out stretched towards her. Shepard didn't give a second warning. She took aim and fired at its leg. The thing didn't stop and ambled towards her until Shepard shot its other leg and it fell to the ground. It started to drag itself towards her. By this time, the others had heard the gunfire and turned towards them. They started running in a herd at them, moaning and reaching as a group.

"Open fire!" Shepard yelled.

Harry let loose with his rifle, trying to aim for the chests of the things. The others were doing the same as the things kept running towards them, some tripping over their fallen comrades as they made their way towards the team. Kaidan started using his biotics to throw the creatures backwards, some going as far as to smack against the sides of the surrounding prefabs. Williams threw a grenade on the ground in front of the group, timing it so well that it detonated once the herd reached it. The explosion took out about six of them. Shepard started taking precision shots at the creatures' heads, dropping them deftly with relative ease. One managed to close the distance to Harry. It leaped at his face and Harry just barely managed to get his left hand around its neck to stop it from closing fully with him. As soon as Harry touched the creature, he felt the creeping feeling against his mind again. Harry managed to look the thing in in its glowing, blue eyes. The thing emitted no life from it, despite its movements. It was empty on the inside. In a panic, Harry let a piercing hex loose through his hand, severing the neck of the creature from its shoulders. It dropped and he continued to fire at the creatures. After what seemed an eternity to Harry, but probably only a few dozen seconds, the last of the strange people fell silent.

"What in the hell were those things." Kaidan asked; sweat beading on his brow from the exertion his biotics took.

"Don't know." Shepard replied with a look of concern on her face. "I imagine it has something to do with what the geth was doing to that person we saw earlier."

"You don't think they did this to the research team, do you?" Williams asked.

"I think they did." Harry said flatly.

"What makes you say that, Potter?" Shepard asked.

"They had the same wrongness about them as those spike things did." Harry said vaguely, not really sure how to explain it to them.

"What do you mean by wrongness?" Kaidan asked.

"I don't know how to explain it." Harry returned. "It's just a feeling."

"Well, let's stop delaying and check on the survivors in that building." Shepard ordered.

They moved through the scene of carnage they had created. There were about twenty or so of the things lying around the area, some whole and others in pieces. Harry noticed that the things did not bleed as much as leaked a strange blue fluid. The glow had left their strange eyes and only black sockets returned the team's looks. They made it to the prefab unit and Shepard pounded on the door.

"Is anyone alive in there?" She asked. "It is safe out here now."

Harry could hear sobbing from the inside. Whoever was in there was probably scared witless. Shepard signaled Kaidan to open the door and Kaidan moved into position. His omni-tool activated and he started to breach the door. After a few seconds they heard the lock ding as it opened. The door slide aside and the team made their way inside. Harry followed the sound of the sobbing to the far back corner from the door. A woman and a man were sitting in the corner of the unit and both were curled up with their knees to their chests. The man was rocking back and forth while sobbing to himself. The woman looked up once she noticed Commander Shepard and looked relieved.

"Oh, thank God. I thought they were trying to trick us into opening the doors again. Are you really here to help us?" she asked with a hint of desperation in her tone.

"We're here to lend assistance where we can, ma'am." Shepard said reassuringly. "But I need to know where the beacon is. It is what they are after."

"The beacon? Yes, right." She began. "Sorry, I am a bit frazzled. After they turned our friends into those things, I have had problems just keeping my head together. They moved the beacon through the hills towards the docks. They might be trying to get it moved off planet and that is the best place for a ship to land in the area."

"Thank you." Shepard said with a reassuring smile. "I want you to stay here and lock the door after us. We'll send help once we've secured the area."

"OK." the woman said. "Please, don't forget us. I don't want to be one of those things."

"We won't."

They stepped out of the building to see the door panel turn red from it being locked. Shepard turned to Williams.

"What's the fastest way to the docks?" she asked.

"The train would get us there more quickly. That's through the pass in these hills." Williams replied.

"I'm tired of getting stuck in these kill zones in these hills." Shepard growled under her breath. "Can we pass over the hills and move straight there?"

"Yes... I guess we could." Williams said slowly after thinking about it.

"Then let's do that and stop playing into their hands." Shepard said.

The team moved towards the hill that led east towards their destination. They made their way up the steep hill pushing and pulling each other up the difficult parts. Once they were on top they noticed that they were on a relatively flat surface covered in thick grass. Williams pointed to the train platform in the distance and they started moving in that direction. Harry was glad that Shepard came up with this plan as they started to make good time and didn't encounter any geth along the way.

They topped a rise and could see an enormous red ship in the distance. It was massive with large appendages keeping it steady on the ground. The ship seemed to be covered in black clouds and red lightning was striking the air around it. Harry had not seen a ship that size ever be able to land on the ground. The size of its mass effect drive must be huge as well. Once they were on top of the rise, Shepard motioned for them to lower to the ground. From their height on top of the hills, their outlines could give them away. Harry started crawling on his belly with his rifle in front of him. They were nearing the train platform when they saw two figures in the distance on the platform. Both appeared to be turian and Harry thought one of them was Nihlus. They appeared to be talking and Nihlus turned around for a moment. The other turian pulled out a pistol and shot Nihlus in the back of the head. Nihlus dropped to the ground and the other turian marched off the platform to one of the trains.

"Did you see that?" Harry said.

"Yeah, I did. Looked like Nihlus." Shepard said grimly. "Let's get down there and see what we can find out."

They made their way down the hill carefully towards the platform. On the platform they found the body of Nihlus lying on the ground. He was killed cleanly with a single bullet to the back of his head.

"I wonder who that was that killed him." Williams said aloud.

"I know." said a voice from behind the crates. A man in colonist uniform stepped out. "It was another turian. This one here," he said pointing to Nihlus "called him Saren."

"Did they say anything else?" Shepard asked the man.

"Not really. The other bird didn't wait long before shooting him. They seemed to know each other though and that's why this guy here let his guard down."

"Alright, hide behind those crates again and stay down. We'll send help."

"Don't need to tell me twice." The man said, moving behind the crates again.

Harry and the others made their way to the train. geth were all over the lower platform and they became hard-pressed to make progress towards their destination. Harry finally switched to his sidearm as his magic was being more and more required. Kaidan was using his technical abilities to rip off the geths' shields. They were slowly pushing the geth back to the train. Harry was providing additional shielding using a modified Protego Duo that allowed for movement, but shielded only in the front. He kept this up as the team started concentrating fire on one geth after another. Williams was a good shot, but Shepard was amazing. Once she got a shield down, it took only a few well-placed shots to drop one of the geth. They finally were confronted by a massive geth unit. They had to take cover as it launched a missile at the group; Harry didn't want to test his magical shield against an impact like that. They rose and laid into the monstrous synthetic, chipping away at its impressive shields. Once Harry saw the telltale sign of the shields bursting, he let loose with a concentrated blasting hex he had taught himself. It ripped through the large unit and demolished its upper torso. The unit dropped to the ground.

In the relative peace that followed taking out the last geth on the train, Shepard whistled a long note.

"Damn." She said while walking over the geth's legs towards the train controls. She activated it and they made their way to the loading dock.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" Kaidan asked as the train lurched into motion.

"I picked it up from some old book." Harry said, figuring the truth would be funnier. "I got it for a bit of light reading."

"Remind me to borrow that book sometime." Williams said laughingly.

* * *

They had barely recovered their wind when they saw they were nearing the docking station. A white geth unit was kneeling over a large device. It straightened as it noticed them approaching and fell back up the ramp. The group disembarked and went over to the device. Kaidan examined it while Harry and Williams kept an eye out.

"What are we looking at, Alenko?" Shepard asked with a tone of seriousness.

"Demolition charges, ma'am. My sensors are picking up several more in the area."

"How much time do we have?"

"Four minutes."

"Right. We can't risk time running out before we've secured our package. Potter, you take Williams and secure the ones on the far end. We'll secure the ones on this end and secure the dock."

Kaidan looked at Harry and Williams and said, "Look, just fry the detonator on the charges. Nothing fancy."

"That I can handle." Harry replied.

"Move!" Shepard barked and Harry and Williams made their way up the ramp. Once they reached the top they were immediately assaulted with a hail of bullets. Harry rolled behind a crate and Williams dived after. He pulled her up.

"Alright, I saw two up ahead behind that far crate. You?" Harry asked Williams.

"Same. I'd suggest a grenade, but it would likely roll off the edge behind them. Ideas?"

"There was a drop behind them?" Harry asked and Williams nodded. "Right. Get ready to move then."

Harry leaned out and banished the crate back. It shoved the geth off the platform and dropped them about two stories onto the tracks below. They moved forward at the same time they saw Shepard and Kaidan moving towards the next charge. Ahead Harry saw more Husks and started firing with his pistol or sending piercing hexes at their heads while Williams continued to fire at them with her rifle. There were so many of them.

"Damn!" Harry heard Williams yell as her rifle started venting. It must have overheated from use.

"Here!" Harry yelled, taking his rifle off and tossing it to her. She snatched it out of the air and began firing into another husk that had drawn close. Two more soldier units and one of the white ones they saw were firing from behind a support column.

"Toss me a grenade!" Harry called to Williams over the report of their weapons. She detached a disk off her belt and tossed it to Harry. He activated it and threw it with his left hand at the column. He used a bit of magic to curve it into the space where the geth were taking cover. Williams unloaded into the geth that had seen the grenade land and emerged to avoid the blast. It dropped quickly under her assault. The explosion took out the other two.

Harry and Williams made their way over to the first charge and Williams took up a covering position. Harry looked at the device and fried the detonator with his omni-tool. It was as graceful as cutting the blue wire in the old vids he watched, but, by god, it got the job done. They continued down their level and looked across the tram to see that Shepard and Kaidan had taken out their second charge and were making their way to the dock.

"We have to hurry and get the last bomb!" Williams said with an edge of panic.

They went further down only to have to duck behind another crate. Harry looked around and saw a geth rushing his position. He launched a bludgeoning hex at its knees and caved its right knee in. It fell forward only to have Williams shoot it in the flashlight of an eye as it landed on the ground. Harry grinned at Williams and she grinned back. They kept pushing forward. Harry was feeling pressed for time and started to get even looser with his magic.

"_It won't matter if I am tired from this if I die in a blast." _He thought to himself.

Two more soldier units blocked their path and Harry launched a blasting hex at the ground to their right. They were shielded from the damage, but the force of the blast knocked both off the sides onto the tracks below. Harry and Williams let loose into another crowd of husks lingering near the next charge. Harry quickly swept two off the side of the walkway as Ashley shot down another. Running, Harry slid into position next to the charge. He fried this one too before he finally decided to breathe. He didn't wait long as they both made their way back to meet up with the rest of the team at the dock. They turned through the tall archway and saw Shepard putting the finishing touches on a geth. She had her sidearm out and placed one round through its eye before turning and looking up at them.

"Took you long enough." she said with a cocky grin, the first Harry ever recalled on her.

"Yeah, well, your first charge was closer so you had a head start." Harry yelled back indignantly.

Shepard gave him a wry look and touched her receiver on her omni-tool.

"Joker, the Beacon is secure. Come around and pick us up."

Harry went down to the stairs to where the rest of his team waited. He turned and looked at the tall, slender beacon. As he drew nearer he started to feel something. Something familiar. Something…

Magical.

He walked up to the beacon and was seized for a moment by an invisible force. It lifted him up into the air and tried to force something though his mental shields. Responding quickly, Shepard ran up and knocked Harry out of the way, only to be seized by the same force.

"Commander!" Kaidan yelled and he moved towards her only for Ashley to hold him back.

"Stay back, or it will get you too." She screamed at him.

Shepard hung there for several tense moments, seemingly paralyzed, before suddenly dropping to the ground limp.

Soon after, the Beacon exploded.


	11. CH 11- Great, Yet Familiar

**AN: I do not own either Harry Potter or Mass Effect. I just write stories using them. Thank JK Rowling and Bioware for their works and read the books or play the games if you haven't.**

This will be a short chapter, but it felt right to end it where it does this time around.

So some people have brought up a good question; will this story follow the game closely? The answer to that is a definite yes/no. Yes in that the _events_ of ME1 will remain mostly unchanged. With how I plan for the characters to grow and develop, I plan on keeping most of the events unchanged. I will be going off the beaten trail if I take this into ME2 and 3. If you are familiar with the Mass Effect series, you already know that most of the events in ME1 happen regardless of how you play it. However, those choices make an impact in the future games. My story will follow much the same pattern except that ME2 and 3 events will be totally different with the addition of an unknown quantity, Harry.

One last announcement, I do plan on pairing Harry up at some point. It may not even happen during the events of ME1, but rest assured that he will find love in space. I do repeat that he will not pair up with everyone in that he will have a harem.

Have fun reading and favorite/follow if you enjoy. Leave any reviews if you'd like.

* * *

**CH 11**

Harry lay on the ground, reeling from the mental assault that had occurred. His head pounded and hurt terribly. He felt like he had been through another session of Snape's special occlumency lessons back in fifth year. He noticed a ringing in his ears and couldn't hear much. He tried opening his eyes, but that only served to increase the ache in his head. He suddenly felt someone shaking him around the shoulders. He tentatively opened his eyes again, slowly cracking them as to not increase the pain. He saw the vague silhouette of a person illuminated by the sun. He opened them further and made out Williams's face. She had her hands on his shoulders and was trying to say something to him. He couldn't understand her as his ears felt as if they were stuffed with wool. Suddenly the preceding moments started to come back to him.

_"Shepard!"_

Harry quickly sat up, forcing Williams to move out of his way. He looked over to see Kaidan kneeling over Commander Shepard. She was unconscious and Kaidan looked like he was trying to rouse her. Slowly Harry's hearing was coming round and the ringing subsiding. He could hear Kaidan hailing the Normandy.

"Normandy. Normandy. This is Lieutenant Alenko. Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Potter are down. Requesting immediate medical assistance. Over."

Harry started to rise up.

"Belay that assistance on me Kaidan. I'm fine." Harry said. He wincing at the pain his voiced caused his head.

"Like hell you are. Williams, keep Lieutenant Potter down until assistance gets here." Kaidan said, with a tone that suggested no alternative.

Harry felt Williams put his hand on his shoulder again, preventing him from rising any further.

"It's alright, Potter." She said, with concern written on her face. "Mission's over. Take a seat for a while and I'll help the LT with the Commander, OK?"

Harry not really feeling up for arguing, nodded his head and sat down with resignation. Williams went over to Kaidan and started to straighten out the Commander's legs and stabilized her neck and spine.

"Is she hurt?" Harry asked with worry in his voice.

"No. I don't think so." Kaidan replied with relief. "She looks like she is dreaming though. Her eyes are fluttering like crazy."

_"What on earth, err… Eden Prime happened?" _Harry wondered.

Harry looked over at the beacon, which was now in pieces.

_"Command is sure going to be pissed about that."_

* * *

Harry sat in the exam table in the med-bay, shirtless, with Dr. Chakwas running her omni-tool over him. She had just finished pulling back his eyelids and looking in them with a flashlight. This of course made his headache so much better.

"Well," she began with a long drawn out air. "Aside from some damage to your ear drums due to the proximity to the explosion, you're healthy as can be. I think some rest will do your headache some good and we'll have to get some specialized ear drops at next port if your ears don't recover on their own."

"What about the Commander?" Harry heard Kaidan ask.

"Oh, she'll be fine once she wakes up. My scans tell me she is merely in deep REM sleep right now."

Harry hopped off the table and made his way out of the med-bay, stopping only to glance at the sleeping form of Shepard. He was taken suddenly by the image of another red-haired woman stepping in front of him, protecting him. His mind lurched back to the present when the green flash enveloped the vision. Harry shuddered slightly and walked through the doors into the mess hall. He pulled his shirt over his head as he walked to the elevator leading down to storage. He knew he couldn't sleep right now and decided to busy himself with work on cleaning and repairing the team's guns and armor. While riding the painfully slow elevator down, he slipped out his wand and cast a healing charm on his inner ears. This required sticking his wand in his ears and was glad for the privacy the slow elevator provided. Thinking of it, he cast a numbing charm on his head and felt a measure of relief. He had just slipped his wand back into its holster as the elevator door opened. He saw Williams sitting over by the workbench, going over her armor.

"So they let you on our lovely ship?" Harry prodded.

"Yeah, Captain Anderson wanted me on board in case they need my account of what happened when we reach the Citadel." She replied absently, her attention being on the chest piece in front of her.

"So…" Harry began slowly, pulling up a chair. "White and Pink huh?"

"Don't even start with me, Potter." she said with a serious tone. "Not my choice."

"Then how did you get assigned those colors?"

"Alliance Command requires all colonial based marines to have white armor, supposed to make them appear friendlier and less intimidating. Each unit assigns their marines with colored designations for easy ID in battle. I got pink."

Harry noticed that she seemed to spit that last sentence.

"Because you're a girl?"

"Because I'm a girl!"

Harry sat there a moment, silent, with a blank look on his face. She stared back at him, eyes daring him to say something. Slowly Harry's stomach started to tremble and his eyes filled with mirth. His lips strained to remain neutral. He finally asked, "What color did you want?"

"Blue."

Harry finally cracked. He fell on the floor and started laughing. He was holding his ribs and his eyes started to water.

"Nothing. Nothing." Harry said sitting up and wiping his eyes.

She stared at him ruefully for a moment before sighing and turning back to her work. Harry clambered back into his chair and turned to the table. They worked in silence for a few minutes. Harry had nearly stripped his rifle down when they heard Anderson on the ship's comm.

"Williams, report to the briefing room."

Williams sighed and left the breast piece she was working with on the table. She sat up and began walking towards the elevators.

"Williams, just so you know." Harry said, continuing to work on his rifle. "You _are_ a girl, but you are _also_ a damn good soldier. Never forget that."

Harry heard her stop and turn around. "It's Ashley, by the way."

Harry grinned to himself.

"I'm Harry." He said, still focused on his work.

Williams turned and walked into the elevator. When Harry heard the elevator start to rise, he turned and made sure the coast was clear. Seeing no one else around for right now, he pulled out his wand.

"Time for a little customizing."

* * *

Harry started to put away his materials. He had spent about two hours down in the storage area working at the bench alone and his attempt at distracting himself from his thoughts was becoming less effective. Sighing, he decided to stop for now and check up on Shepard again. He shut the locker he had stored Ashley's armor in while grinning to himself.

_"I hope she likes the changes I've made."_

Harry rode the elevator up to the crew deck. A lot of the crew was eating dinner in silence in the mess hall. Harry figured that Shepard must not have woken up yet by the mood that was in the air. Shepard had made quite an impact on the ship during their near week journey to Eden Prime. Harry could not recall an officer besides Dr. Sanders that made a point to get to know everyone that they worked with. Shepard, however, talked to each person on the Normandy at some point and seemed interested in actually knowing them. Everyone was now deeply worried about a woman that they had met only a week before. It spoke volumes to the character of Shepard.

Harry wandered over to the door that led into the med-bay and stood there. Harry felt indecisive about Shepard. He didn't want to see overly concerned, but felt he should try and help her somehow. She _did_ throw herself in harm's way to help him. That decided it for Harry. He opened the door and stepped inside. The light was more subdued now that it had been when Dr. Chakwas was working in there. She must have been in her office now, Harry figured. The only lights now in the room were above the beds used to support patients. Harry looked around the room and realized that no one else was present. He figured that Kaidan must have left for rest or food as well.

_"Just as well."_ Harry thought.

He walked over to Shepard lying on the hospital bed. She didn't frown as much while asleep. Harry once again saw a flash of Godric's Hollow and saw Shepard lying on the carpet next to a crib. Harry shook himself again.

_"Stop that."_ Harry told himself.

Harry went and stood next to Shepard, her eyes still fluttering under their lids. Harry had an idea that might work, but he needed to be careful as there would be an observation camera monitoring the room. Harry took Shepard hand and mentally spoke "_Enervate"._

Shepard's eyes stopped fluttering and she was still for a moment. Suddenly, she shot up with a gasp, eyes darting around the room.

"Commander. Commander!" Harry spoke loudly, getting her attention. "You're safe. We're back on the Normandy. You've been asleep for some time."

She looked Harry in the eyes and asked "What happened? Where's Anderson? I need to speak with him. It's important."

Harry noticed the edge to her voice she normally had was gone and now there was just a tone of urgency.

"I'll find them and let them know you're up. Are you OK?" Harry asked with some concern.

"I'm fine. Head hurts a bit. It's just that… I saw some things. The beacon…" she trailed off.

"Forced something into your head?"

"Yes, a vision. A vision of something terrible, Potter. I can't tell what it all is, but I'm sure it has something to do with this Saren."

"We'll find him." was all Harry could say. He believed her about the vision. Something had tried to force its way through his mental shields, but it didn't feel like the oily blackness the things the geth had with them felt. Harry looked back up at Shepard and said "Thank you, by the way, for knocking me out of the way."

Shepard looked at him and studied his face for a moment. Whatever she saw there made her smile before she replied. "I'd do it again, if I needed to."

* * *

Harry was lying down in his sleeping pod trying to get a few hours' sleep before they arrived at the Citadel. Well, lying wasn't the most accurate word. The pods were vertical in orientation on the walkway leading to the main battery. The entire ship uses a mass effect field to simulate Earth's level of gravity, but the inside of the pods had their own gravity once activated on the inside. Once a person stepped inside and the glass lowered, it would change from a clear glass to black. This shut out all light except for the small control panels. On these panels one could activate the mass effect field each pod generated. Once activated, the user would experience the odd feeling of going from standing to lying down instantly. This is actually something that basic training had to cover as people not familiar with this could experience severe nausea from this until they got used to it. Inside, the level of gravity could be adjusted to near zero and this provided a comfortable sleeping experience, for the most part. Harry sometimes felt like he was sleeping in some sort of coffin and he always had to spend time shaking these thoughts.

Harry would often bring one of his magic books into the pod to read over in privacy, using the overhead lights. Each person was allotted eight hours per day in the sleeping pods, but Harry had his down to a little less than six hours still from his time at Grissom so he used the extra time to read. Nearly everyone had their different sleep schedules depending on their job. Joker, for instance, used the Dymaxion method in order to need as little as two hours a day. That's why it always seemed that he was on the bridge. Harry figured he slept up there too as the walk back here probably wasn't worth it to the man.

Harry finally drifted off for a few hours, but his dreams made him unsettled.

_Harry floated in the blackness. There was nothing. No, not nothing, but definitely a lack of something. None of his senses could sense a thing. It was as if existence itself was not present. It was cold and lifeless, and the blackness around him seemed to press down on him. He floated there for what seemed like eternity in the quiet stillness. Finally Harry heard something behind him. He turned in the void and peered into the blackness. Suddenly, there was a flash so bright that Harry had to shield his eyes. It was as if the blackness everywhere was being pushed back, leaving nowhere to hide. Fire erupted from the middle of the blackness and rushed outward, eating away at the void as it went. The distance between the explosion and Harry seemed unimaginably far away, but the wave of fire closed the distance to him with astounding speed. Harry panicked and wanted to escape the oncoming wall of flame, but he found he could not move. The fire flowed over and around him and Harry did not feel heat or burning. He felt a peace that was great yet familiar. He felt like life itself was flowing through the fire and he felt no fear. The last sound that Harry noticed before waking was a familiar cry of a bird._


	12. CH 12- You have no say

**AN: I do not own either Harry Potter or Mass Effect. You should look to the books by JK Rowling and the games by Bioware and enjoy the source material. **

So another chapter in a week. I'm actually doing well with keeping ahead of what I post so I hope to keep posting regularly. Some life events around the corner might eat into my time soon, but hopefully I'll have enough chapters stockpiled to get everyone by.

Some people have wondered why my chapters are _relatively_ short compared to some of the 10K chapter formats of some stories on this site. I have a few reasons. First, writing shorter chapters allows me to take on this project in easier to manage portions. I could do like some authors and release one 10k chapter a month, but I feel my way allows for my writing to be less of a chore. As it is, I've published over 30K words in less than a month, not including my stockpiled chapters not published. With this I feel you all get more story sooner. Secondly, I do not like to add too much fluff to my story. I could make the chapters longer by adding lots of fluff in between, but I try and avoid it. If I write a filler chapter it usually serves the purpose of either painting a better picture of the world I am writing or develops characters and relationships. On this same note, I like to avoid exposition in my writing if possible. Sometimes you can't avoid it, but I like to leave clues about things without spoon feeding you what I want you to know. Many of you have been sharp enough to catch some clues I've left in my story and others have been left curious enough to keep reading, so mission accomplished either way. Finally, I like ending my chapters on strong notes if possible. If a chapter feels like it should end there, then it will. I don't want to force the flow of a scene or transition between scenes so sometimes the chapter needs to end. That's why some chapters are barely 2k while some have come close to 5k.

All this said, this is just my style. It is what feels right to me, but many other authors on FF have written amazing stories with different formats. I hope this clarifies why I do what I do.

Apparently the end of the last chapter caused a lot of questions. My PM inbox got hit pretty hard. I'm glad for the curiosity and I will revisit the issue again, so don't worry. BTW, I'm about to write Feros and can't wait to start letting Harry get more loose.

* * *

**CH 12**

Harry stood on the bridge with Joker, Kaidan, Ashley, and Shepard. They were in FTL mode at the moment and were about to be in the Widow Nebula. Harry wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but he was eager to lay his eyes upon the Citadel. He had heard stories about it, even seen vids. However, like most things in this time, they did not seem to compare with real life at all.

"Exiting FTL in 10." Joker said with a tone of seriousness he only ever seemed to have when actively flying the ship.

Harry felt the ship come out of FTL suddenly. It wasn't the same as when Uncle Vernon would hit the brakes in their old car. No, it was the slightest change in gravity that one could only sense on the inside. Harry wondered how much Joker felt when he said he "needed to feel the ship" when flying, but didn't doubt the man. The shutters on the windows rose and they could see out the view port. Harry was first taken by the beauty of the space around him. There was so much natural light in the area. The Widow Nebula supposedly had once been home to a star that had gone supernova and expelled most of all its mass to the surrounding space. Now particles of dust floated in the space that the star once occupied. Radiation from the surrounding space caused the particles to emit light and gave the entire region of space around them a pinking glow. The space that Harry marveled at provided an even better contrast for the Citadel itself. The structure was massive. Larger than anything Harry had ever seen in his life. The five arms extended out from a central ring giving the entire superstructure a starfish appearance to Harry. Entire cities were packed into the space on the inside of the arms. Harry figured millions of people could live there comfortably. He figured millions more crowded into the station that served as the center of the galaxy's commerce and culture.

The Normandy approached the dock and it floated past a large mass effect field that served to provide a seal for the artificial atmosphere for the Citadel. Slowing to a stop, magnetic docking pads latched onto the Normandy and allowed it to shut down safely.

"We made it, Captain." Joker said into the comm. "Do you want me to break it to the Council or do you want to see their faces when you tell them."

Harry heard Captain Anderson sigh over the com before replying. "Just tell the Council we've arrived and we'll meet them at the Citadel Tower."

Harry worried over what the Council's reaction would be too. They had failed their mission to retrieve the beacon to no fault of their own. A Council Spectre had died too on the mission, again no fault of their own. Harry learned later that Anderson knew of Saren and apparently he was a Spectre too which raised numerous questions. Apparently the fact that this Saren had killed Nihlus and attacked the colony was going to be a hard pill to swallow for the Council and Anderson seriously doubted their chances to convince them. To add to the disappointment Harry and Kaidan later found out that this mission was a sort of test of Shepard to see if she would be fit to be a Spectre as well. The odds of humanity having one now were slim unless they could prove Saren's involvement. Anderson doubted that the testimony of one troubled survivor on Eden Prime and a team that never got a clear look at the turian would carry very far at all.

"Alright. Suit up, team." Shepard began. "I want everyone from the Eden Prime mission present to offer testimony in case it is needed."

They turned and headed down to the storage area and grabbed their armor. Harry wanted to slap the designer of this storage area as they did not include an area for anyone to change aside from the bathroom. Harry assumed it was not designed with the thought that a ground team would be deployed regularly. Harry moved behind some crates and removed his field uniform. He wore a military-issued black t-shirt made of synthetic material under his armor. The material allowed for the armor's built-in environment regulators to work best to heat or cool the body as needed. More embarrassingly, Harry had to wear a sort of tights underneath as well. Not for the first time his mind wondered what ladies had to wear under their armor. His revelry was cut short when he heard Shepard yell from the other side of the crate. "Hey Harry, if you're done using the powder room, get your rear up to the bridge."

Harry flushed as he started putting on his armor, the red and black pieces fitting on with a synthetic mesh underlay at the joints connecting them. He went to his weapons locker and attached his pistol and rifle. He discretely slid his wand into the slot he had made in his left gauntlet, and then reattached his omni-tool to his left wrist. Finally ready, he made his way up the bridge. Ashley and Shepard were waiting for him.

"Is Kaidan coming?" Shepard asked.

"He's probably still fixing his hair. You know, don't want to meet the Council with a strand out of place." Joker called from the pilot's seat behind them.

Harry snorted and noticed that Shepard cracked a small grin.

"Well, we wouldn't want that, now would we?" she said.

"Hey, I heard that." Harry heard Kaidan say from behind him. "And for your information my hair is naturally this amazing."

"OK, princess." Ashley chuckled.

The team made their way towards the elevator that led to C-Sec screening. Harry thought about how much closer Shepard and the rest of the Eden Prime group had become during the trip back to the Citadel. Harry knew it was the shared experience that only those that have seen combat understand. Knowing that the person next to you has your back goes a long way to breaking any of the ice. They stopped referring each other by last names or titles, except for Shepard of course. They thought it would be weird to call her anything else. Ashley had started teasing Kaidan about his grooming routine a day into their journey and Shepard had caught onto it. Kaidan didn't seem to mind and even Harry was getting into the spirit of unity.

Harry finally let himself relax once he was certain no one aboard the ship was a plant for some other organization. He could let his guard down, a little, and finally get to know the others. Harry felt that he and Kaidan got along pretty well after the past few days working together. They would exchange playful insults at one another. Harry would make fun of Kaidan's perfect hair and supposed make-up kit and Kaidan made fun of Harry's inability to work with anything beyond simple tech. Ashley warmed up to Harry a lot after she found her armor in her locker the first day heading back. It was no longer a glaring pink and white. Now it sported a glossy blue color with black accents. She stood there staring at it reverently for about five minutes before putting it back in her locker and smiling softly to herself. Harry was never good at giving gifts, but he felt he did a good job on this one.

Shepard… Harry couldn't quite define what their relationship was. Harry certainly admired the woman. She was probably the best soldier he had ever seen. He respected her certainly; she earned every bit of that. However, there was something more to it. Shepard seemed to take an interest in Harry that was different from the others. Harry felt it may have something to do with his age as he was certainly the youngest on the crew. Harry recalled one of their recent talks one night when both had wandered into the mess hall while most of the others were asleep.

"Potter, what are you doing up?" Harry heard Shepard ask in the relative quiet of the mess hall.

"Couldn't get to sleep tonight. Weird dreams." Harry replied.

"Yeah, tell me about it." she said, pulling up a chair to the table. "So, I haven't had much chance to talk to you, Potter. Tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know?"

"Got any family?"

"No, ma'am. They died when I was just a bit older than one."

"That's rough. Lost my parents during a slave raid when I was in my teens."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah. Thanks. You grow up on Earth?"

"Yeah, London. You?"

"No. Mindoir. Small colony."

"Is that why you joined the military? The slavers attacking, I mean?

"Not really. I just… I didn't really have anyone left, you know? Nothing to tie me down. I felt that the service could offer me a chance to find where I was needed most."

"Yeah, I get that."

"You do?"

"I lost everyone I knew too. Since there were no answers left for me back home that I could find, I felt that the service would allow me to get out and find them elsewhere."

"Have you found them yet?" she asked, genuine interest in her eyes.

"No...not yet. Have you found where you are needed?"

She stood up from the chair and walked towards her empty sleeping pod. She smiled softly at him and said, "I think I have, Potter."

She turned again to head into her pod, but Harry spoke up. "It's Harry, by the way. You know. When we're not on duty."

Still smiling she said "OK, Harry. It's Jane to you."

"OK, Commander."

* * *

"Kaidan, why do you always wait until we're stuck in an elevator to give us intellectual insights into Citadel races and cultures?" Harry asked with exasperation.

"Because you can't run off just because you refuse to learn anything new or insightful. I figure this is my chance to teach you a bit more about turians or asari." He replied with a wry grin.

"You do know I can speak their languages, right? Which means I am probably more qualified than you to make insights like that about their cultures or what not." Harry replied sarcastically.

"Funny, you don't seem to be very cultured to me." Kaidan replied, still grinning.

"Alright you two, pack it up. We're here." Shepard said, stepping out of the elevator.

Harry and the rest came upon two turians talking heatedly.

"Look, we both know that Saren is up to something. If you can convince the Council to wait and give me more time I can…"

"No, Garrus. There's no way I am doing that. You have nothing solid and I am not wasting any more C-Sec time or resources on this case. It's closed." The other turian walked away.

The tall turian turned to face them. He had blue tribal markings on his face and a viewfinder over his left eye. Harry wasn't sure by looking at his face, since he wasn't skilled at reading turian facial expressions, but Harry picked up very loud thoughts of determination when he met his eyes briefly.

"Commander, I hear you are after Saren as well." the turian said when he noticed them. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, C-Sec. I was assigned to investigate Saren after you sent the initial report. I can't get anything solid on him, but my instincts tell me he is up to something big."

"He is. Have you found any good leads?" Shepard asked.

"Nothing official yet. I have a few leads and I'm going to look into them regardless of what C-Sec wants."

"Can we find you at C-Sec if we need to talk to you later?"

"Yes, Commander. Find me at C-Sec if you need me." Garrus replied before moving past them into the elevator.

They made their way up the impressive courtyard in the Citadel Tower. It was filled with alien looking trees and grass. They were still quite beautiful though and Harry couldn't help but admire the aesthetics of the place. He did start to notice how far one had to climb up just to reach the Council's public addressing platform.

_"Hmm, feels like they are trying to make themselves look more reverent."_

The Council had already gathered. It seemed this meeting was closed to most of the public as there wasn't anyone else present in the obvious viewing areas around them. Harry looked from the platform they had stopped on to the Council that sat across the hole in the space in front of him.

"An interesting report you have filed, Udina, but what proof have you of your story?" said Sparatus, the turian Councilor. "All you provide us with is the account of one witness whose story is hearsay and eye witnesses who were too far away to be certain of what they saw. How do we know this isn't an attempt to blame humanity's failure on the turians?"

"That's not what is happening and you know it." Anderson replied firmly.

"Now we both know that is not true, Sparatus." Tevos, the asari Councilor replied before looking at Udina. "You must understand our perspective. The failure of the mission is upsetting and this vision you report to us is hard to believe."

"The vision is real." Shepard spoke up. "Something wiped out the Protheans and Saren is working for them."

Suddenly a holographic image of Saren appeared to the left of the group of humans. Aside from the color being off, this was the first time Harry got a good look at Saren. He was big, even for a turian, but his extra mass seemed artificial. He probably had extensive cybernetic implants in him to lend him an edge in the field. He looked smug, which is saying a lot as Harry still couldn't read turian faces well. Harry wished he could read his thoughts to see what he was hiding, but holographic interfaces didn't allow for thoughts to be read. He had to do that in person and even then he wasn't a master of the skill yet.

"Are we allowing visions and dreams to be used as evidence now, Councillors?" Saren asked, voice dripping with conceit. "If so, how am I to defend myself against such claims?"

"The vision has nothing to do with your actions on Eden Prime." Anderson said. "You and the geth attacked a human colony in an attempt to steal a Prothean artifact!"

"Ah, Anderson. I thought that was you. Funny how you turn up whenever humanity proves it has no place here. You and your protégé have no place among the Spectres and your failings prove this."

Udina finally spoke up. "You have no say in that decision!"

Tevos raised both her hands in a calming gesture. "We are not here to judge whether Commander Shepard should or should not be given Spectre status. Udina, do you have any other evidence to present to this Council on Saren's alleged attack on Eden Prime?"

Udina looked down in defeat before replying. "No."

The Council looked at each other briefly. They didn't bother to speak about the evidence presented before shaking their heads at each other.

Sparatus spoke for the Council. "It is the decision of this Council that there is not sufficient evidence to prove if Saren was involved in any way on the attack on Eden Prime. The Council will launch an investigation into identity of the alleged turian involved."


	13. CH 13- It was a good plan

**AN: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and Mass Effect is owned by Bioware. If you've not experienced the source material for yourself, you are doing yourself a disservice.**

So this will be another fairly short chapter, but it ends on a good note. This one was more fun to write too. Just finished roughing out chapter 17 (longest chapter yet) on my end too and I am glad I did. Life has been throwing a lot of interruptions and I haven't had as much free time to write. I appreciate the comments and questions people have and I am sorry if I don't answer them as it may ruin the story for others.

Highlander348 made a funny observation about the game; wouldn't there have been cameras on Eden Prime to witness Saren's murder of Nihlus? My only guess was that there wasn't (unlikely) or Saren did something to disable/destroy the footage (much more likely). Pics or it didn't happen sort of philosophy.

* * *

**CH 13**

"So, tell me why we are at Chora's den again?" Kaidan asked. Harry thought he looked decidedly uncomfortable sitting at the table with Harry while the asari dancer gyrated next to him. Harry was also _extremely _uncomfortable, but Harry decided to not give Kaidan anything else to tease him about. However, it did require Harry to go through some mental exercises to keep the embarrassment from showing on his face.

"We're following up on one of the leads that Shepard gave us. We need to keep an eye out for a krogan merc with a bone to pick with the owner of this place. Shepard and Ashley are off with that C-Sec officer following a lead they had with a doctor elsewhere. Plus, they would look very out of place in a place catering to men." Harry said while sipping on the blue drink he purchased at the bar (to fit in of course).

"No. I know why we're here, but why are we _in_ here. Couldn't we just wait outside for the krogan to show up instead of coming inside?" Kaidan asked.

"Of course not. One, it would make us look suspicious to be lingering outside and might cause our target to go to ground. Two, I got called off my shore leave for this assignment so I am sure as hell taking advantage of any R and R I can get."

"Fine… I guess the dancers are pretty good looking."

"There's a good fellow. Now have you tried the red stuff yet? I hear it makes some good purple stuff when mixed with blue."

"Do you even know what it's called?"

"Nope. I usually just walk up to the bar and hold up a finger. This is what they give to me. Wish they had some human alcohol though. Would it kill them to have some ale on tap?"

"Hey." Kaidan said, nudging Harry and pointing to the door. "Looks like our krogan just showed up."

Harry looked over at the door to see a large krogan with scars on his right side of his face gesturing angrily at the bouncer. He couldn't hear what was being said, but knew that the krogan wasn't going to be allowed entrance. Harry waited until the krogan turned and left before getting up to follow. He and Kaidan walked past the bouncers who were still grumbling to themselves and out onto the blue tinted walkway. They saw the large krogan stomping off towards the lower markets. Harry and Kaidan were walking fast in an attempt to catch up without looking to noticeable, but the krogan must have heard them coming. He quickly turned around while pulling out his shotgun and aiming at him.

"That's close enough," the krogan said in the rough, low voice typical of his species.

"Whoa, hey. We just want to talk." Harry said while holding his hands up to show he wasn't a threat. He wondered if his unbreakable charms he put on his armor would hold up to a shot this close.

"Yeah." The krogan said. "What do two little pyjaks like you want to talk about?"

"We hear you're after Fist." Kaidan replied.

"What's it to you?"

"We need to speak to him as well. He knows something on a turian named Saren."

Harry noticed that the krogan's narrow pupils seemed to tighten even more at the mention of Saren's name. Harry tried quickly sifting through the krogan's thoughts, but he found it difficult. Alien thoughts were often projected in the language native to them. Harry couldn't understand the krogan tongue and was only able to pick up the "feel" of the thoughts.

_"Excitement?" _Harry thought.

"Hmm, so you're going after Saren." The krogan said. "Yeah, I might have heard something about that. Shadowbroker put a price on my target's head because of his involvement with Saren. My question to you is why I should even let you along? I don't need you."

"Don't be an idiot." Harry blurted out. "We counted at least nine armed guards and not to mention two other krogans. Those are all we could _see. _You know Fist has others where we can't see them. Even if they're amateurs and don't know the first thing about fighting, all it takes is one lucky shot to bring down even a krogan."

The krogan eyed them shrewdly for a long eye. Harry did his best not to flinch under his hard stare. Harry attempted to feel his thoughts that lay exposed on top. He felt that he was being sized up, weighed against some unknown measure.

Finally the krogan spoke up. "Alright. You can come along. Just don't get in my way. Name's Wrex."

* * *

_"It was such a good plan too."_ Harry thought, standing in the middle of the club and drenched in water from head to foot.

Everything started off smoothly, but Harry had never worked with a krogan and didn't realize the full capacity for violence they held. The plan had started off with Kaidan entering the club again and using his omni-tool to fry most of the overhead lights and activate the fire alarm. He also cut off the alarms from C-Sec so no one would come to investigate. They wanted the place cleared of non-combatants as soon as possible so they could minimize casualties. Kaidan has performed his part of the job well and had taken a position behind a table and waited for Harry. Harry thought he had convinced Wrex to allow the two of them to take out who they could with less than lethal biotics (or a stunner in Harry's case), but that agreement lasted about as long as the first shot off of Wrex's shields. Harry let a flashbang roll into the club and waited for the bang. He and Wrex immediately burst into the club and Harry let loose two red bolts of stunners, hitting two nearby guards. They dropped to the ground and would live another day. Kaidan started causing the other guards' weapons to overheat with his omni-tool and this bought Harry time to stun a couple more. Everything went out of control when one of the krogan bouncers blasted his shotgun at Wrex. The scarred krogan's shields burst under the onslaught, but this only served to drive Wrex into a rage. Wrex quickly holstered his shotgun and charged the other krogan, lifting up the brute as he continued to charge forward. They both crashed into the glass bar that encircled the center of the club, sending chunks of glass flying. Harry was distracted long enough by the display not to notice as Kaidan jumped into and knocked him into the ground. Harry heard a shot impact the wall where Harry's chest had been moments before.

"Get your head back in the fight." Kaidan yelled in Harry's face before rolling away.

"We had a plan!' Harry yelled back.

"I know!" he heard Kaidan reply as he peered over a nearby table and yank a nearby thug into the air with his biotics.

"It was a good plan!"

"I know! Shut up and help me take these guys down."

Harry threw another stunner in the face of another guard that poked his head over a nearby table he had turned over. Another guard from behind that table pointed his gun over the table and started blind-firing in their direction. Harry took cover again to keep from getting hit by a lucky shot. Harry peered around in time to see Wrex lift the other krogan over his head and throw him into the table the guard was hiding behind. Wrex then jumped onto the unbroken portion of the bar and let out a primal roar before jumping off and charging into another krogan that appeared out of the back rooms. Harry saw two guards taking position on the circular, floating ring that served as a dancing stage above them. Harry quickly cast a blasting hex into the stage underneath where the guards stood. The glass-like material it was made of shattered and collapsed. The guards fell and one landed hard on the bar. Harry suddenly heard some terrible asari pop start playing over the club's speakers.

_"This literally couldn't get any worse." _Harry thought. Harry heard a gunshot go off from the other sound of the bar and suddenly the sprinklers activated and started to drench the club in water.

Sighing to himself, Harry looked around for any other guards. Most were laid out in various positions are stunned or knocked unconscious. The ones that seemed able to move were no longer armed and heading for the exit. Harry walked around to the other side of the bar to see it was demolished on this side. There was a krogan laying face down on the other side of a table, another bloodied and unconscious in the wreckage of the bar. Wrex was grappling with one last krogan, both trying to get control of a shotgun they held. They held onto it and traded headbutts back and forth. Tired of the whole affair, Harry shot out a cutting hex at the soft neck tissue of the krogan bouncer. It sliced into him, spilling some of the krogan's blood. This distracted him long enough for Wrex to wrench the gun out of his hands and butt him in the face with it. The last krogan finally fell, his quick healing stopping his bleeding.

"Ha!" Wrex exclaimed, smacking his meaty fists together. "I haven't had this much fun in a while. You little pyjaks know how to have a good time."

"I'm amazed that no one died." Kaidan said as he walked up, his hair finally not looking so perfect.

"Shame, that."

"We had a plan." Harry said in a low voice.

"Yeah, and it sucked. Mine was better." Wrex said defiantly.

"This is better?" Kaidan said.

The club was completely wrecked. There wasn't a table that wasn't splintered, smashed, or filled with holes. The bar was completely crushed on one side and the stage above was hanging loosely on the support cables where it wasn't collapsed onto the floor. Everything was drenched after the sprinklers finally stopped spraying and that awful music was still playing. Harry spotted the music's control panel under the still standing portion of the bar. He took out his pistol and fired into once, thankfully silencing it.

"Well, I'm sure Fist knows we're here. It would be rude at this point not to say 'hi.'" Harry said while marching towards the back doors.

* * *

"Talk, Fist. Is this information worth dying for?" Harry yelled in the man's face. He sensed the man's hesitation. Harry knew the man had apparently pissed off the Shadowbroker by cutting ties with him, but he was worried more about what Saren would do.

"I can't. He'll kill me." the man pleaded.

"You're screwed either way, Fist. Even if you don't tell us what we want to know, he's going to think you ratted on him."

"OK! I'll talk. Just let me live."

"Fine. Tell me what I need to know and I won't kill you." Harry said threateningly.

"There's some quarian. She came across some incriminating data about Saren. She came to me thinking the Shadowbroker would offer protection in exchange for the info. I set her up for a meeting with some hitmen in the alleys in the lower wards."

"Is that all?" Harry said, but knew the man had told the truth.

"Yes, that's everything."

Harry forced the man to look into his eyes before asking. "What's the password to your console?"

"What? I'm not telling you that." Fist replied in surprise. He looked really worried now.

"Don't need to." Harry said calmly as he walked over to the console and entered the word and numbers he lifted from the man's thoughts. Harry had gained access and looked at Kaidan.

"I suggest you lift these files and we'll hand them over to C-Sec. I imagine the information in here will let them forget our little party out in the club earlier."

Fist was sick. Slavery, organ trafficking, arms smuggling, and that was all Harry saw on the surface. This man had his hand in quite a few illicit dealings on the Citadel and seemed to primarily serve as a money launderer for these activities.

"No, get away from there!" Fist screamed at them and made to move after them. Harry heard Wrex's shotgun go off and the man slump to the ground.

"Wrex!"

* * *

Harry, Kaidan, and Wrex were running along the wards, trying to make it to the alleyway in time.

"Commander, this is Potter. Come in." Harry said holding his ear piece.

"I read you, Potter. What's your status?" Harry heard Shepard say over the com.

"We're making our way through the lower wards. A quarian with sensitive intel on our target is about to be taken out. We're moving to intercept."

"We read you. Our lead pointed us in the same direction. We'll move to assist."

Harry navigated his way through the crowded markets down in the wards, trying not to knock anyone over. Wrex wasn't as considerate. If they didn't get out of his way in time, they were shouldered aside. Harry could hear voices of protest behind them, but didn't stop to consider them. They were pressed for time and if they didn't hurry, an innocent quarian would be killed. They neared the alley that Fist mentioned and slowed their approach. Harry pulled out his pistol as Kaidan and Wrex withdrew their weapons. Harry looked around the corner leading into the alley. There was a quarian in a black suit with a purple hood decorated in the swirling design popular among her people looking around. In front of her was a turian in a blue suit and two salarians in full enviro suits. The turian tried to ease closer to the quarian, but she backed off and tried to leave. The turian seemed to make some sort of signal as the salarians withdrew their weapons. The quarian started to run towards Harry's position, but not before dropping a flashbang at their feet. Harry turned the corner and fired at the assassins. The quarian hesitated when Harry appeared, but kept running when she realized that they were firing at the thugs. The turian recovered from the flashbang and was hiding behind a crate and started firing at Harry. Kaidan and Wrex had taken up positions on the other side of the entrance to the alley and were firing back. Harry then noticed Shepard, Ashley, and the turian from C-Sec round the opposite entrance. They fired at the assailants who, caught in the crossfire, were soon dead. The quarian had reached Harry and his group seemed lost as what to do next.

"Thank you." The quarian managed to say with a modulated voice emitting from her face plate, causing a light on it to blink in time with her words.

"Don't mention it." Harry said, not really sure how to reply.

Shepard and her group made their way to them and addressed the quarian. "I'm Commander Shepard. I hear you have some information on Saren."

"Yes, I do." The quarian replied. "I can give it to you, but we need to get somewhere safe. I've been hunted since I found this data. I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, by the way."


	14. CH 14- A Man of Many Talents

**AN: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and Bioware owns Mass Effect. They are both wonderful series and you should try both if you have not.**

So, I'm going to be candid with you. I never thought this story would ever get above a few dozen favorites and follows because of how niche crossovers can be. Despite this it's already broken 450 fav's and 600 follows. I thank you all for keeping up with this story and offering your support.

So I'm encountering a minor conflict while writing my story in that there are too many wonderful and unique characters in Mass Effect that I want to give their "screen time" without needlessly drawing out the story. I had to do some thinking about when each of the characters become most important and I realized a few things. First, Ashley and Kaidan get most of their moments in ME1 and 3 depending on how it's played. Second, the alien crew (i.e. Garrus, Tali, Wrex) really has their most important moments in ME 2 and some in 3. Liara is the only character that really gets consistent face time in all three games. I think that I will try to focus the story along those lines so I don't bog down the story too much, but rest assured that there will of course be moments with all of them regardless.

OK, it's official. I've decided how I want the "ships" to work out for the long run. What I mean by this is I have decided on who Harry ends up with at the end of this entire saga, but he won't start off with them immediately. This does not mean harem or anything, just that I will not pair them up at the start of the story.

I have a couple of direct quotes from Mass Effect and this will be highlighted through the use of **bold** characters. Enjoy and please favorite, follow, and review if you feel so compelled.

* * *

**CH 14**

**"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."**

**"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."**

"You wanted proof." Udina said, stepping up the Council with a stern look on his face. "Well, there it is."

"This does implicate Saren in the attack on Eden Prime." Valern, the salarian councilor, said. "Given Saren's complete denial with Eden Prime to begin with, we must assume he was lying about his attack."

"He's lied about more than that before." Anderson said.

"Perhaps he has." Sparatus said. "That doesn't matter now. We must decide on what course of action we should take to address this crime."

Tevos decided to speak up now. "It is apparent that he should be stripped of his Spectre status and his ship flagged for detainment in any Council system. What intrigues me are these Reapers."

"That's what the vision the beacon on Eden Prime showed me. They are a race of machines that wiped out the Protheans over 50,000 years ago." Shepard said.

"A race of machines that wiped out one of the largest civilizations in the Galaxy?" Sparatus said indignantly. "There would be signs of their existence. It's impossible."

Harry finally decided to speak up. "Shepard tried to warn you about Saren and you threw it back in her face. Don't make the same mistake again. If Saren believes this is real then we should at least be open to the possibility it is."

"It doesn't matter what these Reapers are." Udina said while shooting Harry a dirty look. "If we can stop Saren it won't matter. I ask the Council to mobilize the fleet and cut off all of the Terminus systems."

"To do so would start a war with the Terminus systems." Valern said. "We should exercise caution in apprehending Saren."

"There is one way we could resolve this." Tevos said thoughtfully.

"No! It is too soon." Sparatus said.

"No, Councilor, it solves all of our problems." Valern said. "We won't have to send the fleet after Saren and humanity gets their first human Spectre."

* * *

Harry grunted and pushed himself up one more time. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and it threatened to run down into his eyes again as he looked down at the storage room floor. He was getting tired and wanted to quit, but he scraped together what willpower he had and lowered himself to the floor. Exhaling hard he forced his body up one more time.

"173." He said when he reached the top of the push-up. He let himself practically drop to the cold floor of the storage area. Harry had made himself a little corner of the storage level of the Normandy just a few meters away from his workbench. He had convinced the quartermaster to allow a few crates to be moved around, creating a small private space out of sight. Harry had moved a small camping cot and a folding chair into the space. No one bothered to ask Harry where he had gotten them. Harry assumed they thought that he found them on the ship. Harry was glad that most of the crew hadn't been here long enough to notice an irregularity like that. He doubted he could have gotten away with it on a ship with an established crew. In truth, Harry had transfigured some broken gun parts into his cot and chair. Harry used this space to take naps when necessary or to find someplace private to read. Privacy was hard to come by and the space helped to provide this. Not that it was guaranteed.

Harry heard someone cough from behind. He pushed himself up to a kneeling position and looked around and saw Kaidan and Ashley standing there, both with wry grins on their faces. Harry suddenly remembered that he wasn't wearing a shirt and was covered in sweat at this moment.

"It's nice to know that you're keeping in shape, Harry." Kaidan said.

"Well, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you pretty boy?" Harry returned, noticing that Kaidan's hair was back to its usual perfect shape. Harry quickly grabbed his Alliance Military issued shirt and began to tug it on.

"Don't mind us, Harry." Ashley began, eyes darting back to his face. "We just wanted to let you know that everyone's back and we're about to depart. What prompted the sudden display of masculinity back here?"

"It wasn't a display until you two started watching me. How long were you there?" Harry asked.

"Since about, oh, 120 or so." She said cheekily. "You didn't answer my question. Why start wearing yourself out now? We've not been aboard for more than an hour."

"I was frustrated and needed to let off some steam." Harry said. It was the truth, but not the whole of it. Harry learned early on in his secret training at Grissom that he tended to bottle up negative emotions like frustration or anger. Harry learned that half of his failings with occlumency were due to his emotions running rampant in his mind and the "plugging" technique was not the best method for these feelings. Unfortunately, occlumency books didn't teach you emotional control, only mental defense and organization as they assumed that you had a sound mind to start with. Given Harry's past, he certainly did not. During his time at Grissom, Harry started to explore non-magical methods of controlling his emotions. He quickly learned that some people felt the need to use physical activity burn off negative emotions and found it suited him well. Harry had left the Council session very frustrated and felt he should try and break his personal push-up record to prevent snapping at anyone. He came up short by six this go around and mentally blamed coming off a mission for this.

"Well, you'd better get cleaned up. I'm sure Shepard and the Captain will want to address everyone soon." Kaidan said, turning to leave.

Harry nodded and stood up. Leaving his little space, he went to his locker and grabbed a fresh set of clothes. He went and cleaned up in the second level bathroom then dressed. He hadn't heard anyone call for him over the com yet and so decided to return down to his workbench and start going over the guns. He stepped into the elevator only to be joined by a strange group on the way down. In the awkwardly slow lift was Harry, Tali'Zorah the quarian, Garrus the turian from C-Sec, and Wrex the disaster waiting to happen. Wrex just simply looked at Harry and nodded when he entered the lift and the group rode down in silence.

_"Looks like things are going to get more crowded on this ship." _Harry thought to himself.

Once the lift opened onto storage Harry saw Ashley back at the workbench, already stripping down her rifle. Wrex went off to the left side of the storage area, and finding a section of wall that seemed to please him, leaned against it. He seemed to glare at everyone in such a way as to say "leave me alone." Garrus hesitated for a second until he saw the Mako. Eyes widening a bit he walked over to it and he began circling the large tank. Tali'Zorah stepped out, but she seemed a bit lost. She wringed her three fingered hands together and looked around. Harry couldn't see her face well enough to guess what she was thinking, but decided to be friendly.

"Need any help?" Harry said, causing the quarian to jump a little when he did.

"Oh. It's you! Ah… yes. I was told to make myself comfortable down here, but I don't know where anything is or how to be useful. Everything is so open on this ship and there's so much space. Do you know where I could put my things or find a bed?" She asked, her voice modulated slightly by her suit.

"OK, well as to your stuff you can put it in the locker over there." Harry said, pointing over to the long row of lockers. "As for a bed, we all rotate in using the sleeping pods on deck two." If you require a bed, I'm sure we can find something that will work."

"No, no. That's fine. The pods will work." She replied. "I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, by the way. We didn't get much of a chance to talk after you saved me back in the alleys...Thank you, by the way...for doing that."

Harry smiled at the timid quarian. She was looking down at his feet and seemed very nervous to be talking to him. Harry noticed the beautifully intricate design she had on her hood. It was purple with swirling shapes and lines in silver. Parts of her suit were also covered in this design. Harry had never had a chance to meet a quarian in person as they rarely ventured to Alliance colonies and mostly stayed aboard their flotilla ships. Harry recalled that the quarians had originally created the geth and realized that having one with them would prove very valuable. Deciding to be friendly, he extended his hand to her.

"I'm 2nd Lieutenant Harry Potter, but you can call me Harry or Potter, if you prefer."

"You can call me Tali, if you'd like. Most people do." She said, taking his hand in hers.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, I assume you're joining our crew."

"Yes. Commander Shepard offered me the chance to assist you. As you are fighting the geth, it would serve my people greatly if I could help you. In the meantime, I hear you have an engineering section of this level and I could probably help out there. I am pretty good with ships and engines."

"Then you'll want to go over there and through the doors." Harry said, pointing around the corner from the lift to the engineering level. "Make sure you get clearance from Chief Engineer Adams before doing so. He can get very particular about who he lets back there."

"Mostly just you, Potter." Harry heard from down the hall where engineering was. Harry saw Adams moving up the corridor.

"Shepard just gave you clearance to join us in engineering, Miss. If you'll follow me." Adams said, motioning for Tali to follow. Harry watched Tali walk back to the forbidden (for him) engineering area. He heard a laughing sort of grunt behind him and turned to see Wrex grinning at him. At least Harry assumed it was grinning for a krogan. He wasn't entirely sure.

"What?" Harry asked of the large krogan who was still wearing his red armor.

"You're awfully friendly… for a killer." Wrex replied.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I saw you use your strange biotics on the throat of that krogan. You nearly killed him. Don't worry, it doesn't bother me. I'm glad to see one of you humans has a quad." Wrex replied, shrugging his massive shoulders.

"Trying to stop an enemy does not make me a killer." Harry said, defensively.

"No, but going for the throat out of frustration does. Listen, pyjack, I don't really care if you blew his head off or hugged him. I just thought it was funny that someone so willing to take out another being would be so chummy."

"Well, all the same. I had to do something to give you time to get him off you."

A grunt was all Harry got in reply. Wrex resumed his task of staring around the storage area. Noticing the conversation was apparently over, moved to his workbench and took up a spot next to Ashley. She was engrossed in the mass effect field generator component of a rifle and didn't notice him walking up until he sat down next to her and began stripping his pistol.

"Hey, Harry. Did you hear what's going on?" She asked.

"No. No announcements were made over the com yet. All I know is that we picked up some new crew members." Harry replied.

"From what I hear, Shepard got stopped by Udina and Anderson at the hatch. Some big news or something. I also heard from Pressly that the Council forwarded some leads on Saren."

"Too bad the Council is more worried about not making waves than hunting Saren down."

"Yeah. They also found a lead on that other voice we heard on the geth's data that quarian recovered."

"Her name's Tali."

"Oh… OK. Well, apparently she's some hotshot asari Matriarch. We got word her daughter was working on a Prothean ruin, but the site has gone black. We've got a couple of other leads, but that's all I got from Pressly."

"Sounds like we're operating on very little information. Do we have any actual clue where Saren actually is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Harry heard the coms overhead activate. His ears perked up as he heard Commander Shepard address the crew.

**"This is Commander Shepard. We have our orders; find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of. Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us, but we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all, we will stop him!"**

Harry and Ashley were quiet for a moment, taking in the effect of Shepard's speech. Harry picked up the gun he had been working on and looked at Ashley.

"The Traverse, huh?" He said. "That means we're going to need a lot of guns."

* * *

Harry was sitting in the mess hall at the table. He had just heated up an Alliance Military ration and was picking at the "meat" with his fork. This was one part of shipboard service that he could do without. The meals got the job done and he was never hungry, per se. He certainly craved _real_ food, however. The meat thing was brown and shaped like a flat oval. It was covered in gravy and appeared to have what passed for mushrooms on top.

_"Salisbury steak? Yeah, and Snape could do shampoo commercials." _Harry thought derisively.

He understood the need for the standard shipboard issued ration. Being in space for prolonged periods of time could actually cause some medical issues if not handled properly. The constant flux in artificial gravity, especially if you slept in low G settings in the pods, could reduce bone mass. Lack of natural sunlight lowered vitamin D counts and could cause fluctuations in a person's hormones. The rations were balanced to include extra supplements of this in every portion. They also had to spend time under UV lamps every day for at least fifteen minutes, but it was a very poor substitute for sunlight.

Harry took a bit of his meat thing. He wished he could have some of Mrs. Weasley's cooking right now or some roast chicken like they served at Hogwarts. Harry considered redoubling his occlumency efforts in order to trick his mind into thinking he was eating something else. Harry must have been making a face because he heard Shepard laughing in front of him.

"It's not that bad, Potter." She said, stabbing her own meat thing and cutting off a portion.

"It is when you have standards." Harry said.

"Who says I don't have standards?"

"I'm going to refrain from answering that, Commander."

She chuckled and went back to eating her food. Harry, for once, looked forward to meal times lately. It had been a long time since he last had people he would actually sit down and share a meal with. In fact, the last was Kasumi and Carl. Before that… Harry looked around at the motley crew that sat at the mess table. Wrex was sitting to Harry's right (mostly since no one else would sit next to him), Ashley on his left. Shepard was across Harry with Kaidan on her right and Garrus on her left. Tali liked to sit at the head of the table near Garrus. No one assigned the seating, but everyone seemed to keep to this arrangement since the first day out and it had repeated every meal since.

Garrus and Tali were eating Dextro-based rations. They looked kind of good to Harry and he wondered if a good meal would be worth anaphylactic shock. Wrex's meal was never pleasing to look at and he ate it with both hands. Harry was afraid to ask, but thought it might be varren meat. Wrex picked up the charred-looking hunk and tore a piece off with his large jaws.

_"Surprisingly, he makes less of a mess than Ron did."_ Harry thought.

"So, Potter." Garrus began, seemingly done with his meal. "What is this I hear about the guns you work on having better shot capacity?"

Harry nearly choked on his current bite.

_"How long has someone noticed?"_

"It's OK, Potter." Shepard said. "I noticed it back on Eden Prime. Some of our little firefights on the Citadel confirmed it. I just happened to mention it to Garrus."

"You know that high velocity rifles have a nasty habit of overheating, even after one shot. Wondered if you might help a turian out?"

"Sure." Harry said, just managing to get the food down. "Just drop whatever you need worked on by my bench."

"Thanks. It seems you're a man of many talents." Garrus said. Harry could have sworn that the turian grinned at him.

Harry resumed eating again when Wrex spoke up. "He is at that. Never seen a biotic able cut anyone before."

Harry again tried to not to choke.

"Alright, team." Shepard interjected. "We all know Potter is different. He's been damn useful so don't give him a hard time."

Harry took a drink of his "juice" to wash down the food that had threatened to choke him.

"Yeah." Ashley said. "Harry, tell everyone about your back tattoo."

Harry sputtered some of his drink out and everyone started to laugh.


	15. CH 15- Not Questioning Your Results

**AN: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and Bioware owns Mass Effect. Please read the books or play the games since they are great:**

So last chapter was well received. I'm glad that Harry's interaction with the others was well received. We're moving along and I hope to allow for more "screen time", but most of it will happen in later archs.

So I broke the 500 mark on favorites. A bit intimidating to say the least, but it does provide motivation to continue so thank you. On that note, if you enjoy this story please Favorite, follow, and review if you feel so motivated.

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**CH 15**

Shepard sat in her personal cabin on the crew deck of the Normandy looking of her dossier tablet. They were nearing Therum to follow the first of their leads on Saren's location. Shepard wanted to find this Dr. T'Soni before she could escape or possible get acquired by her mother, the Matriarch Benezia. She was trying to decide on whom to include in her ground team to complete this mission. Therum was a planet covered in active volcanoes that often expelled the planet's interior on to the surface, creating rivers and lakes of liquid rock and metal. This made the planet particularly valuable to mining companies, but not for general colonization. The planet was thought to have been habitable in the last dozen or so millennia as the planet was dotted with Prothean ruins that attracted their target to this planet. Dr. Liara T'Soni was an accomplished Prothean expert despite her relatively young age of 106. In asari terms, T'Soni was barely an adult, but Shepard's mind had a hard time accepting this information.

Shepard sighed as she looked down at the electronic tablet. She knew they were going to need the Mako to navigate the surface veined in lava, and that it would need field repairs often due to the rough conditions. Shepard wasn't terrible with repairs, but it would go easier if she had a team that could assist with this task along the way. Being honest with herself, she was nervous about bringing anyone except the team she had gotten used to. Kaidan….Alenko was an accomplished technician and biotic and she had already settled on including him in the team, but she could not decide on her last member. Williams was a good soldier and marksman, but lacked the skills needed to make this mission go smoothly.

Potter… well she wanted him there. He was able to get the job done, and she trusted him to be able to handle things on his own. He worked very well in a team, but had an obvious independent streak. Some officers didn't like that in their soldiers, but Shepard viewed it as an asset. She didn't feel the need to constantly issue commands to Potter and worry about the job getting done. He had shown a lot of these assets when it mattered on Eden Prime. He also had command material as it was apparent that Williams and Kaidan both took his lead when paired with him.

_"Kaidan and Potter. Well that was a gamble that paid off." _Shepard thought.

Kaidan outranked Potter by a step, but Harry came up with the plan to go after Fist. Granted a lot of damage was done in the process to the club, but Potter managed to not kill anyone. He even managed to keep Wrex, a _krogan_, from killing anyone. Shepard wondered if she would have been so merciful in his place. Fist had died, but Shepard didn't mourn that loss and Potter had no authority over Wrex to stop him.

The problem she faced now was that Harry was terrible at tech requirements. His odd talents were nothing short of amazing. Shepard knew that whatever Harry did was not biotics. The portions of the black label dossier she was allowed on him indicated no eezo nodules in his brain and no amp. The Alliance wanted to monitor him, see what his limits were. Thankfully Harry was more of an asset to them and not more useful as a subject of experimentation. Yes, this young man did have some talents, but tech was one area he did not excel in. She knew he would be left behind on this mission. Since the Mako only sat three, she couldn't even bring him along and not expect him to assist with repairs. She wondered how the young soldier would feel.

Shepard made a point to get to know her crew and often talked to them while they made their way. Harry reminded her a lot of herself when she was younger. He was not very trusting and she suspected that he had been let down a lot by others. Harry liked to laugh a lot with the crew, but she often would see his eyes didn't always match the rest of his expression. She figured that Harry still battled demons from his past like she did. When she first joined the military, any enemy she engaged would take on the face of the slavers that killed her family. She didn't let go of these dark thoughts until the Skyllian Blitz. She had managed to hold off Batarian slavers long enough for the colonists she was rallying to seal the breach in their defenses. Saving innocents became more important in that moment than ruthlessly killing the slaver scum. Now she wondered what Harry saw when his gaze drifted off like that.

Shepard sighed and sat up from her desk. She had settled on Alenko and Garrus. Both had enough tech and combat skills that they should be able to get through this mission. She messaged the two over the coms and instructed them to report to briefing.

* * *

Harry was in his little nook in the cargo bay, reading a book titled Magical Talents and their Teachings by Tobias Teddlebum. Harry had taken to sneaking out a few of his magical texts from his trunks in the seclusion of his space. He would cast a charm on the covers of his books to make it appear to be reading tablet to anyone who wasn't magical. He doubted that many wouldn't find it odd if one of his books was seen by anyone else. The book detailed a number of uncommon and rare magical traits and talents that had been documented in magical history, references to other works on the talents, and some rituals in the back that supposedly revealed any talents a person had. The book was obviously recent as the section on Parseltongue had the slant that anyone who had it was dark. Harry had read some older texts on this ability and they viewed it as simply another trait some families passed on. Harry considered trying some of the runic based rituals, but knew he wouldn't have a chance while aboard the ship.

_"Maybe during a shore leave I'll get around to it."_

Harry let out a long sigh and sat up from his cot. He was frustrated and knew he didn't have a good reason to be. He was admittedly disappointed that he wasn't down on Therum with Shepard. He knew the logic in the decision: Harry couldn't fix the Mako if the situation called for it. Well, Harry could fix the hull, but not with anyone looking. Harry figured out a long time ago that he could fix metal hulls, parts, and non-electrical parts with magic. Harry was still being extremely cautious, however, especially after more people had started noticing some of his hidden talents. Harry knew that Kaidan was bothered by how he read Fists thoughts, but had enough grace to not mention it.

"Harry, you there?" He heard Ashley say from the other side of his crates where their bench was.

"Yeah." Harry said, tucking his book under his cot. "You need something, Ashley?"

"No. Just checking on you." She said as she came around the crates and sat in his chair. "I figured you were miffed that you aren't on the ground team."

"Not miffed really. I just don't like not being there. I worry that something will go wrong if I'm not there."

"Sounds like you have a protective streak. Don't worry. Shepard will be fine. She's not N7 for nothing."

"Yeah, you're right. It's stupid to get worried. So what's up with you?"

She smiled before saying, "I'm restless as well, I guess. What I told you was probably more for myself. I've always been protective of others since my sister was born."

"You've got family?" Harry asked, interested in this new bit of information. He rarely pried into other people's history as he didn't want to attract the same questions about himself.

"Yeah. She's a bit younger than me. Her name's Sarah. I used to chase away the kids that tried to tease her when we were younger. Probably how I developed that tendency."

"I get that."

"You got any family?"

"No. They were killed when I was young." Harry said softly. Silence fell over the two for a while. Harry stared at the ceiling of the storage deck in silence for a while, not speaking. Ashley felt awkward. She tried several times to open her mouth and speak, but couldn't find the right words so she would close it again. After a moment longer she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to upset you." She said.

Harry turned his head and looked at her. She looked genuinely sorry and Harry suddenly felt guilty for making her feel that way.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." He said. "You didn't know. I don't talk much about it. To be honest they aren't the most difficult people for me to lose."

"You've lost more than just them?" Ashley asked with a little surprise. She felt really sad for her friend who seemed to rate losing his family as _not_ the worst thing to happen.

"I lost a lot of friends a long time ago. It's OK now. In fact it was only a few weeks ago that I really came to terms with it."

"That's good." Ashley said and then stammered quickly. "Not that it's good, but that _it's_ good. Uh...You know?"

Harry laughed at the normally stoic soldier sitting in his chair. He couldn't help but smile at her as she seemed very uncomfortable though sincere.

"I'm glad that you really care for your sister. She must be special if you worry so much. I'd like to meet her sometime." Harry said, turning back to look at the ceiling.

"I'd like you to meet my family too. Uh.. you know. As my friend." Ashley said.

"Sure," Harry replied with a grin.

"All hands stand by. We're retrieving ground team." Joker's voice said suddenly over the com.

Harry immediately jumped up and ran to the lift with Ashley following close behind. They impatiently rode the slow lift up to the crew deck and raced around the corner to the stairs leading up to the command deck. As they reached the top, Harry heard the hiss of the airlock pressurizing. As Harry drew near to the bridge the doors opened and Harry saw Shepard leading the group. She was covered in dust and her armor looked scuffed, but she appeared unharmed. Harry let out an unintentional sigh of relief when he saw the Commander. Harry looked over and saw that Kaidan and Garrus appeared much the same condition as well. Kaidan's hair somehow had not sustained that much damage despite the rest of his appearance.

Once Harry had confirmed his friends well being he looked over and noticed the other person in their party. She was asari, Harry could see that much. She had pale blue skin with light freckles on her face. Harry could never recall seeing freckles on an asari before, but then again he had not really ever met many asari. She was wearing a green and white research uniform with the X-05 designation on her arm patches, indicating that she was a fairly high ranking researcher. What Harry noticed the most was her startlingly blue eyes. To Harry it was like staring into a deep blue glacier and Harry almost felt a chill at the thought. Unintentionally Harry stared so deeply he started to feel her thoughts. They came at Harry in the asari tongue that Harry had a fairly good grasp of. They were jumbled together from all of the sudden events that transpired, but one pertaining him stood out.

_"Curiosity?" _Harry wondered.

"...Potter...Potter...Harry!" a voice said.

"What?" Harry said, breaking eye contact with the asari and looking at Shepard who had apparently been speaking to him.

"I was trying to introduce you to Dr. Liara T'Soni before you spaced out." Shepard said with a bit of frustration. "Dr. T'Soni, this is 2nd Lieutenant Potter and Gunnery Chief Williams. Now, will you be requiring anything?"

"It was a pleasure to meet you both." She said to Harry and Ashley with a soft voice before addressing Shepard. "If it's not too much trouble, I really could use something to drink. I don't remember when I…"

The asari's rolled back in her head and she went limp. Harry rushed forward and grabbed her under her arms before she could hit the ground.

"Whoa, OK. Get her to Dr. Chakwas now. If you've got her Potter, take care of it." Shepard ordered.

Harry slid one arm behind the asari's shoulders and the other under her knees and lifted. He tensed his lean but wiry muscles in his arm and positioned her so that her head lolled forward towards his shoulder. Quickly turning he made his way towards the stairs to the crew deck. He noticed that the group followed close behind. Carefully watching his footing, he descended the stairs to the crew deck. Harry noticed that his arms hadn't grown tired yet.

_"She's so light." _Harry thought and felt a little embarrassed for some reason. They made their way through the mess hall and Shepard rushed forward to make the door open up before Harry could get there. When they got close to the door of the med-bay Harry heard the small asari groan softly in his arms. Suddenly he felt her free arm reach around his neck and rest there. Harry felt as if his face was on fire and quickly stepped up his pace. Soon after he started to ease her onto one of the examining tables and her eyes fluttered open as he set her down.

"Oh my." She said with slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"It's OK, Dr. T'Soni." Shepard said with reassuring tone. "You fainted on the bridge and Potter here was kind enough to bring you down to the med-bay." Harry noticed she said the last part while shooting him a small grin.

"I...uh...just following orders, ma'am." Harry stammered.

"Better than what my orders were on this mission." Harry heard Kaidan say behind him. Dr. T'Soni was staring around at the group, clueless to joke that was being leveled at Harry.

"Well, it was very kind of you. Thank you." She said to Harry.

Around this time, Dr. Chakwas came out from her room behind the med-bay.

"Well, what did you fools go and get shot this time?" She said sharply to the group.

"We're fine. Dr. Chakwas, please meet Dr. Liara T'Soni. She fainted on the bridge and we brought her here to get looked at." Shepard said.

Dr. Chakwas immediately went into professional mode. She did that whenever she had a patient, Harry observed. She could be loose and casual when working at her desk and often willing to talk when she wasn't busy. Put a patient on one of "her" tables, however, and she shut out all else around her. She moved toward the asari lying on the table and activated her omni-tool. She started to wave it over the asari and a small blue holographic outline appeared above her omni-tool. Dr. Chakwas stared at the image and information scrolling up next to it while furrowing her brow.

"Well, it would appear that the young miss is suffering from severe dehydration and mild malnutrition. I'll start her on a drip for fluids and watch her for a couple of hours. Now, if you'll clear out so she can rest. I'll let you know when she is fit to talk to you."

Harry found himself and the others quickly ushered out of the med-bay by Dr. Chakwas and the door shut behind them. Harry turned to Kaidan, Garrus, and Shepard.

"What happened down there?" Harry asked. "We had to suddenly pull you out of there and we'll have to retrieve the Mako now."

"To sum it up," Shepard began. "Geth were all over the place and after Dr. T'Soni. It is apparent that she isn't in league with her mother and they seem to want her. So naturally I'm not going to let them have her. As to why we had to be extracted, the ruins decided to start collapsing around us."

Garrus laughed and looked at Harry. "What the commander fails to mention is that she blasted a hole in the ruins with a mining laser to get to the asari. Caused the entire structure to become unstable."

Shepard turned to him and said, "I thought we agreed that we didn't have many options or time."

"Whoa." Garrus said, raising his three fingered hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm not questioning your results, Commander. I just didn't think anyone would cause more property damage than Potter has."

"Hey!"


	16. CH 16- What's On Your Mind

**AN: Don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect, and you should totally check out JK Rowling's and Bioware's work.**

Thanks for continuing to read this story. If you enjoy it please favorite, follow, and review if you feel inclined.

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**CH 16**

_Harry was adrift in the void again. He could see the wave of flame moving past him in the distance, creating light wherever it went. Harry wished he was with the wave, basking again in its peaceful heat and life. It had passed, however, and now it was giving its energy to the other parts of the void. Harry wondered if there were others here, seeing what he saw. A part of him doubted it, but another part of him knew he would be jealous of anyone else experiencing it when he was so far away from it now. Harry stared around the space around him and his eyes suddenly focused on something in the distance. Far away, past an area the rushing wave created, some of the flames were left behind. They were swirling fire that began turning into itself. It slowly coalesced into a massive ball of blue fire. Harry gasped at what he had just witnessed. He had just seen the birth of a star. He marveled at the sight for a long time. The flames on the surface of the star seeming to ripple like a pond disturbed by a thrown rock. It was relaxing to stare at the unbridled light of this star and Harry felt himself growing calm and restful. He was jerked out of this peaceful state when flame ejected off the star toward him. The arch of fire swung at him like a whip preparing to snap. Just as the burning whip was about to strike him Harry heard a rhythmic beep._

Harry's eyes snapped open. He heard the irritating sound of the alarm and fumbled around in the relative darkness to shut it off. He nearly began pounding on it, but he managed to turn it off before resorting to that. He rubbed his bleary eyes for a moment before staring up at the blacked glass above him.

"_What in the world am I dreaming about?" _Harry thought to himself. He had written the first dream off as a random occurrence caused by his subconscious, but now he wondered if there was something more. He didn't fear the dreams exactly. They were a lot more peaceful than the visions that he was getting in his fifth year at Hogwarts or the recurring nightmares of Voldemort's resurrection. He was more disturbed by not knowing what it was about. He closed his eyes for a moment and ran through some mental exercises to get him focused and back in the present. He activated the palm portion of his omni-tool and looked at the time. It was 0700 Earth-based Zulu time which gave Harry an hour to get ready before he needed to get back to work. Harry yawned and braced his feet against the bottom of the sleeping pod. Harry turned off the mass effect field in the pod and Harry felt gravity suddenly shift down towards his feet. Harry lurched forward a bit and braced his hands against the glass. It continued to be a weird experience to have the sudden change in gravity and Harry took a moment to orient himself.

"_Still beats floo travel." _Harry mused to himself.

Harry hit the release on the pod and the glass shifted from black to clear. The pod door lifted up and Harry stepped out. He shut the pod, stood in place for a moment, and stretched the stiffness out of his joints. Harry grabbed a bag of clothes he hung on a hook next to the pod and made his way towards the showers. Harry decided last night to start doing this as keeping his change of clothes down in the lockers required two annoyingly slow lift rides. He stepped through the automatic doors into the men's bathroom and noticed no one else was there yet. Going inside and waiting for the door to close behind him, he slipped out his wand quickly. He opened his mouth, stuck his wand in it, and cast a cleansing charm. This was one of the many charms that Harry preferred over doing it "the muggle way" as it left his mouth refreshingly clean. If the caster had good control over his intent, he could even make it leave behind a refreshing scent. Harry preferred to go with traditional mint as it didn't raise questions. He had once gone with a citrus scent, but it was very noticeable and people seemed to eye him funny if he stood too close while talking. Removing his wand from his mouth he cast a shaving charm on the slight stubble that had formed. It beat using a razor or forking out the cash for a laser shaver, and both of those always left Harry with razor burn.

Harry walked over to one of the shower stations and activated the privacy screen. A field of energy created opaque walls around Harry which offered privacy. Harry hung his bag on the hook on the wall and stripped down. He unstrapped his magical trunk from his leg and stuffed it in the bag as well. He then took out his wand and cast a notice-me-not charm on it to prevent anyone else from seeing it. Stuffing the wand in the bag, too, he was finally ready. He turned on the water and relaxed for a while in the warm stream hitting him. There were magical charms for cleaning the body, but there was no substitute for the relaxing feel that a shower provided.

He had started to apply soap from the nearby dispenser when he heard the door open to the bathroom. Harry looked over the screen to see Kaidan walk over to a nearby stall. Harry assumed Kaidan must be on the same rotation today as well. Kaidan looked up and noticed Harry as well. He made a grunting sound of sorts as a greeting and activated the screen. A few moments later Harry heard his shower turn on as well.

"Rough night?" Harry asked.

"Yeah." Kaidan said after a moment. "Headaches again. Pushed myself a bit down there on Therum."

"Have you gone to medical for help?" Harry replied with concern.

"No. It doesn't do any good. I've learned to deal with it. Showers seem to help. You're lucky you don't have to deal with amps."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Harry?" Kaidan said with a questioning tone.

"Yeah?"

"I've wanted to ask you something, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Harry thought about this for a moment before replying. "What's on your mind?"

"What happened at Chora's Den with Fist?"

"Well, we shot a few people, knocked them out, and watched Wrex dance with a few krogan." Harry replied, trying to divert the question.

"You know what I'm talking about. What did you do to Fist to get his password?"

"Does it matter, Kaidan? He's doing time now and we stopped a lot of crime with that info we got."

"Look, I'm glad we brought him down, but you basically read his mind."

"Well, you seem to have it figured out." Harry said defensively.

"Harry, cut the crap. I'm not mad about what you did. I just wanted to know if what I saw actually happened. I know you can do weird things, but those things have helped us more than once. I'm still going to be your friend, even if you can read minds."

Harry stood there quietly for a time simply letting the water run over him. Harry knew Kaidan didn't mean any harm and that he wasn't a mole working for someone else. He should have not have been so short with Kaidan since his concern was valid.

"Sorry for snapping at you." Harry finally said. "I have to be careful about who learns about what I can do."

"Yeah, I figured that." Kaidan said. "Just… have you… have you ever read my mind?"

"Only to find out if you were a plant from outside the Alliance." Harry said.

"I see. Nothing else? Not digging around for dirt on others?"

"I promise I haven't gone any further than that unless it was on accident. Aside from your loyalties to the Alliance, everything I know about you is what you told me."

"OK. Just curious. So how do you do it?"

"I really can't explain it to someone who isn't like me." Harry said trying to avoid answering.

"OK. Well, I've dug into your business, so do you have anything you need to ask me?"

Harry grinned before replying. "Yeah, how long have you been checking out the Commander?"

Harry heard Kaidan slip a bit in surprise and noticed he almost fell to the floor from the question.

"Uh… I thought you said you didn't read my mind anymore." He said.

"I didn't. Anyone can follow your eyes, Kaidan." Harry said with a chuckle.

"Oh, uh… Well… You know… She's pretty good looking is all. Not that I'd try anything of course."

"Of course." Harry said in a patronizing tone.

"Well, if we're on the topic, I've noticed you checking out Williams more than once. Or for that matter, what was the deal with you and Dr. T'Soni the other day?"

It was Harry's turn to be flustered now, but he would not let Kaidan get the better of him.

"Is it wrong for a man to appreciate a pretty face from time to time?"

Kaidan laughed and said, "No, my friend, it is not. No, it is not."

* * *

Harry and Kaidan were sitting in the briefing room with Ashley, Wrex, Garrus, Tali, and Dr. T'Soni when Shepard walked in. Harry nudged Kaidan in the rib and Kaidan glared daggers back at Harry. Harry managed to stifle a grin and not draw much attention. Shepard stood in the middle and addressed the room.

"OK, everyone. We're about a day out from Feros. The colony there has gone silent. Considering the lead regarding Saren, this does not look good. We need to find out what Saren wants there and if the colonists need assistance. This is a large ground op and we won't need to get on site with the Mako. I had originally planned to lead a small team myself on this mission, but have opted to have two teams on the ground. When we get there I will lead Kaidan and Wrex in one team."

Harry nudged Kaidan again when Shepard had her back turned to them which caused Kaidan's mouth to tighten in consternation.

"Our team's designation will be Alpha. Our focus will be tracking down any leads on Saren. Potter." She said turning towards him. "I want you to pick a team and figure out how to assist the colonists. Your designation is Omega. Everyone else will remain with the ship and guard it. We don't know what we're getting into and I need everyone to be prepared before we arrive. Return to your posts and make ready."

With the dismissal, everyone started to stand up and make their way out the door to the CIC. Harry hung back and waited for everyone to leave. When the last of them went through the doors and they shut, Harry walked back over to Shepard.

"Potter." Shepard said, noticing him still there. "Did you have any questions about your orders?"

"Yes, ma'am. Are you sure it's best to send me in charge of a team? Lieutenant Alenko is my superior."

Shepard looked at the door and noticed that no one else was in the room. She let out a slight sigh and looked at Harry.

"Listen, Harry, Kaidan is a fantastic soldier. I rely a lot on his technical and biotic skills. He is also a dear friend and I can rely on him to do the job I set him to. That said; he is not a leader. He might be able to work on his own or lead a team with orders already given, but I need someone who can make judgment calls that do what it takes to accomplish the mission." She placed a hand on Harry's shoulder before continuing. "I admit you are young, but you are also very talented. Your strange skills aside, you have great leadership potential and it would be a shame to waste it."

Harry was stunned at the level of praise she had given him and felt awkward for it. He wasn't used to people acknowledging anything other than his oddities. Harry looked into Shepard's eyes and didn't need to read her thoughts to see how genuine and warm they were. Harry suddenly realized that he hadn't flinched away when she had placed a hand on his shoulder. Aside from Hermione and some of the Weasleys, Harry didn't allow physical contact as it made him uncomfortable. Something about this woman, Jane Shepard, made it feel natural. Harry nodded his head in acknowledgement and Shepard smiled.

"Good." She said. "I had another question, Harry. I know you've done a few things to our guns to make them a little more _special_. I was wondering if you could do anything else to them that we could use against the Geth. We are bound to face more of them and I'd like an edge."

"Well…" Harry began slowly. "I've got something I would like to try, but it would be obvious to anyone using it that it has been modded."

"I'll tell anyone using it that we're simply field testing a new weapon mod and that it needs to remain classified." She stood back and addressed him in her normal tone. "Get to it, Potter. You have your orders."

"Yes, Commander." Harry said and turned to leave. Harry went up the slight incline to the door and opened it. Standing outside of it was Dr. T'Soni and she looked at a loss for something to do. She looked up when Harry walked out and looked away again when she noticed who it was.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were the Commander. Is she still in there?" She said.

"Yes, I believe she is trying to contact the Alliance about the colony on the communicator. Did you need something?"

"I was hoping to have a moment to talk with her. I've spent most of the last three days in the med bay for one reason or another and I feel I should speak with her."

Harry recalled the last briefing they held once Dr. T'Soni had recovered from her entrapment on Therum. Shepard had briefed her on the nature of their mission, her mother's involvement, and about the vision the beacon provided. Dr. T'Soni had asked to meld her mind with Shepard's to see the vision the beacon provided. Shepard saw this as wise since Dr. T'Soni was a leading Prothean expert and might be able to offer insight. Harry still remembered when Dr. T'Soni ice blue eyes turned to a solid charcoal black during the process. While Dr. T'Soni saw the vision, it was still unclear what the full message meant. Harry had briefly considered asking Shepard to open her mind to his so he could see the vision too, but decided it was a needless risk at this point since they now had two people that knew it. Regardless, the melding took a lot out of Dr. T'Soni and she spent another day resting in the med bay.

"You haven't spent much time on board here, but you'll soon realize that the Commander will come by and speak with you eventually once she is ready. She likes to keep in touch with everyone that serves under her." Harry said.

"Oh, OK." the asari exclaimed. "Well then I had better make use of my time. Do you know of anything I can do to help?"

"If you have any mechanical skills, then I can think of plenty. Williams and I can take care of the firearms. However, if you're doing any research on the Reapers and their connection to the Prothean, that would be the best use of your time."

"OK. Lieutenant Potter, I was wondering if you have decided on the ground team you'll bring along. Have you made a decision yet?"

Harry gazed back at her and noticed a hint of eagerness in her eyes.

"I haven't thought about it yet. Not to disappoint you, but I can't consider you at this time, if you are asking."

She looked a bit disappointed, but looked him in the eyes before speaking.

"What would it take for me to prove myself?" She said, suddenly determined.

"I would need to know you will be an asset in a fight and not a liability. The ones left behind will be watching the ship which means the colony as well. Do what you can there and I'll think about you the next time a team is needed."

"Good. I won't let you or Shepard down."

* * *

Harry made it back down to his workbench to see Ashley already sitting at her chair there. She was surrounded by Wrex, Garrus, and Tali. Kaidan stood nearby looking down at the floor and appeared thoughtful. As Harry approached, the group looked up. Wrex made his way toward Harry with his shotgun drawn.

"_Aww, crap."_ Harry thought at the huge krogan lumbered toward him.

Wrex stopped right in front of Harry and looked at him. He then shoved his shotgun into Harry's arms before speaking.

"Make my gun do what yours does." He said and walked off to his section of wall.

Harry continued towards his bench carrying Wrex's massive shotgun while wearing a slightly stunned look on his face. Ashley was grinning at Harry as he approached. Garrus and Tali stepped forward and addressed Harry as well.

"Ah, well. We were going to ask you to do your thing with our guns as well, but Wrex seems to have handled his request very tactfully." Garrus said, rubbing his neck due to the awkwardness of the situation.

"We'd really appreciate it, Harry." Tali said.

"Sure." Harry said. "I just thought that Wrex was going to shoot me is all. I'll gladly work on your guns. Leave them here and do me a favor and field strip them to make my work faster."

The group got together and started to take apart the guns at the table. Tali and Garrus left to go make other preparations and Harry turned to Ashley.

"So what's up with, Kaidan?" He said quietly.

"I think he's wondering why you're leading a team and not him." Ashley said. "I think it was a good call and all, but he seems upset."

Not wanting to avoid the issue, Harry called out to Kaidan.

"Hey, Kaidan. Bring me your sidearm. It needs a bit of work, too." Harry said, still stripping down Wrex's shotgun to get at the ammo block.

Kaidan slowly pushed off the crate he was leaning against and walked over to Harry. He placed his pistol on the table and Harry spoke up.

"What's going on, Kaidan?" Harry said.

"Nothing, Potter. I'm just thinking." Kaidan said with a slight edge to his voice.

Harry looked up at him. "Don't give me that crap." Harry said, stunning Kaidan somewhat. "What's really going on with you?"

Kaidan looked ashamed a bit. "I'm disappointed that a junior officer is leading a team and not me."

"You didn't have a problem following my lead on the Citadel." Harry said.

"Yeah, but it was just us and not as formal of a mission. I feel that the Commander doesn't trust me."

"I just got done asking the Commander about why I was put in charge of a team as well. She told me she really relies on your technical and biotic skills. She trusts you, Kaidan."

"Then why not have me lead the team?"

"Think for a moment. I mean really stop and consider this seriously. Do you really want to make decisions for others? To know that your calls could be the difference between living and dying?"

Kaidan stood there a moment thinking about what Harry had asked. He met Harry's eyes before saying, "No, I really don't. Do you?"

"No, I don't. However, I am willing to do it because someone needs to." Harry said.

Everyone was quiet for a time. Ashley had enough consideration to let the two of them talk past this. Kaidan finally let out a long sigh and looked at Harry again.

"I guess you are more suited to handle the task. I don't think I would have been willing to address this if I was in your shoes." He said.

"Thanks, Kaidan." Harry said before grinning. "Besides, why are you complaining in the first place? Remember who you're going with?"


	17. CH 17- Hidden in the Ruins

**AN: Don't own Harry Potter or Mass Effect. Thank JK Rowling and Bioware for them and check out the source materials if you have not. **

So thank you all for continuing to follow this story. It seems to be gaining a bit of "momentum" in terms of readers and that is a bit intimidating to say the least. I am pleased, though, that so many people are enjoying what has honestly started out as a pet project that I thought may a few dozen people would take interest in.

So this will be my longest chapter I've written so far only because I could not find a reasonable place to split it so you're getting bonus story this week. I've been thinking about he unique nature of fan fiction lately and how releasing it chapter by chapter changes the feel of the story. If it is a book, you can't really leave a cliff hanger at the end of a chapter since you turn the page and get your answer soon after. On you can build suspense much like a television series. For everyone who is following the story and reading it chapter by chapter, you're getting a more unique experience that new readers won't, in that you are allowed to feel the eagerness or anxiety the authors on this site intend. I like this as this gives writers and readers on to have an experience completely separate from traditional mediums.

As usual, if you enjoy this story please favorite, follow, or review if you feel inclined.

* * *

**CH 17**

Harry stepped out of the airlock and onto the concrete dock of Zhu's Hope Colony leading to Garrus and Tali. His choice of squad mates had been tough and Ashley seemed upset that she would be left behind to defend the ship. Harry had to make the best choice for his team and, with his lack of technical skills, Garrus and Tali were selected. Admittedly, Harry also wanted to have Garrus along for his amazing sniping ability and Tali for her knowledge of the geth. Shepard's group walked in front of his leading Wrex and Kaidan. They were an intimidating force to say the least. Harry noticed that there weren't any dock workers around and the place had a stillness about it that was eerie.

Shepard briefed the crew on their mission here as they drew near. The Alliance received a distress signal that the colony had come under attack by the geth. This obviously meant Saren's involvement and Shepard wanted to know why. Shepard's mission involved going after whatever it was that Saren wanted. Harry's was to assist in the defense of the colony and aided it however they could.

They reached some damaged concrete steps whose surrounding walls showed signs of gunfire. There were whole sections of walls and ceilings that had crumbled and fell onto the stairs which also had holes and steps missing. Shepard drew her rifle when she saw this and everyone else did the same. They carefully made their way down the steps, watching for anything that could trip someone up. Harry started to hear a strange noise that sounded like a cross between clicking and a frog's croak. He couldn't see what was making it, but noticed the others looking around as well. Harry suddenly noticed a red laser focus in on Shepard's back and Harry rushed forward. As Harry tackled Shepard forward a powerful shot impacted Harry's shields and sent him into the wall on the right. Harry's shields had cracked and were down for the moment, but his modified armor took the shot. Harry was thankful he used the impervious charm on his and the crew's armor now. Garrus and Tali reacted fastest and sighted a strange looking geth climbing on the ceiling. It moved like some animal and used its feet and hands to traverse the walls and ceiling. Garrus took aim at it and it leaped away as suddenly as he sighted it. Wrex seeing this whipped his shotgun around to where it had jumped and fired. The impact of the gun resounded in the tight space like thunder. The frog-like geth flew backward as the shot hit it. The geth's corpse had small arcs of electricity dancing on its body.

"What in the Traverse did you do to my gun?" Wrex asked, staring at his gun in amazement.

"I just made some small upgrades like the Commander wanted." Harry said as he stood up. He looked over at Shepard as Kaidan pulled her up with a hand.

"Thanks for the save, Potter." Shepard said.

"I figured I owed you one." Harry replied.

The group continued down the steps and to the bottom floor. Harry turned to see down the passageway that led to what must have been a gallery. Sections of the concrete ceiling had fell inward from obvious bombing and rubble lay everywhere her as well.

"We've got movement ahead." Garrus said quietly and Shepard signaled the group to take cover. Harry ducked behind a large section of concrete and peered around. A large group of about ten geth units made their way around the bend in the gallery. Harry looked over at his two squadmates and noticed that Garrus had his rifle stuck between two large pieces of concrete and was sighted on the large prime unit that led the group. Garrus looked over at Shepard who met his gaze. She nodded silently to the turian and readied her rifle as well. Harry did the same and waited. Garrus took two very fast shots with his rifle. The thunderous burst hit the large unit in its flashlight of a face and caused the unit to explode from the energy. The explosion flung two of the smaller units next to it several meters away. On Garrus' first shot the entire team came out from cover and opened fire on the geth. To say that it was one-sided would have been an understatement. The geth possessed some of the best shield technology in the galaxy, but under the rain of electrified bullets, it was ineffective. The first few shots ripped through the energized shields and quickly impacted the geth's bodies. The electrical charges caused the geth to also short out once it pierced their armor, rendering them temporarily paralyzed.

Shepard waited for a few silent moments after the last geth fell before giving the all clear signal. They stood up and Harry noticed everyone had turned to stare at him.

"What in the galaxy did you do to our guns?" Kaidan asked.

"I may have caused the ammo blocks to carry a small electrical charge." Harry said in an awkward tone.

"A small electrical charge?"

"Well, it may have been a bit more than I intended."

"Intended or not, you're not changing it now." Garrus said while looking at his rifle in what Harry thought was delight. "Did you see how quickly I could make that follow up shot? It didn't overheat at all!"

"Harry." Tali began. "Do you think you could show me how to make these changes to guns as well? This could be extremely useful for my people."

"I'm sorry, Tali. I don't think they could do what I did to them." Harry said regretfully.

"Probably more of his weird magical biotic mumbo jumbo." Wrex said dismissively.

Harry felt like the bottom of his stomach dropped out for a moment when Wrex said that. He was trying to think of a plausible lie to cover for him when he heard Shepard laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like Potter." She said. "I for one am glad to have this kind of firepower. I've heard of asari biotics that could add extra mass effect fields to their ammunition so this is Harry's special version, I guess."

Everyone had a chuckle at that and Shepard met Harry's eyes briefly. While her face was laughing her eyes seemed to say something else to Harry. Harry didn't have a chance to read her thoughts before she turned away, but he figured he knew what her eyes were telling him; she knew there was something more to it. In truth, Harry hadn't intended the shots to have more than a small charge to help overload a shield. It wouldn't have been terribly noticeable. Harry had removed the ammo blocks from the guns and carved a small set of runes on them when the others were away. The runic array would last until the block was worn down and the letters were worn off. Harry was to activate them by pushing a little bit of magic into them. He felt that he used the same amount as he had when charging other runes, like in his personal armor, but these had somehow got overcharged. It was like they were shooting bolts of lightning now, which was effective and highly noticeable. Harry wondered why he had too much magic if he didn't feel like he did it any differently.

The group continued on until they made it to the Zhu's Hope Colony. Several of the colonists were simply standing around or working on various tasks around the small settlement. Harry became suspicious as to why these people weren't bunkered down or panicking as they normally would be. Shepard and her group walked up to a woman bent over an electrical service pipe. She stood up, said something to Shepard, and pointed off to the other side of the settlement.

Shepard motioned for Harry's group to follow saying, "The leader of this settlement, Fai Dan, wants to speak with us."

* * *

"So, tell me again... What we are doing?" Garrus said.

"The Commander ordered us to assist with anything Fai Dan needs for the colony while her team goes off after that Geth frigate. We've taken care of most of the problems, but they still need some food to get by." Harry said ducking behind his cover again. The geth were hiding throughout the area and had nearly caught the group unaware several times.

"I get that, but why are we hunting varren? Do you humans actually eat varren meat?" Garrus asked while taking another shot.

"It does look pretty gross and this is a lot of work to find a varren." Tali said after causing the last geth to overload and explode with her omni-tool.

"I look at it this way." Harry began. "This allows us to actually get out and help the colony all while hunting down the geth in the area. I don't suppose anyone has a problem with killing the geth, right?"

"No, but I am more concerned about your people's' diet if they want varren meat. I mean, it just… What? What are you thinking, Potter?" Garrus asked.

Harry's brow had furrowed in deep thought and it was obvious to even the aliens that he was thinking deeply about something.

"All of these silly errands." Harry said. "I mean honestly, aside from shutting down that signal jammer what really required us? The electrical generator I'm sure could have been fixed on site without us having to go hunting down power cells. The water lines should have a remote panel to operate it from the colony. Now we need to hunt a large alpha varren so the _varren hunter_ could hunt varren. Screw this. We're heading back to that settlement. Something is going on. I think they don't want us there for some reason."

"What could they be hiding?" Tali asked as they made their way back towards the colony. On the walkway leading back to the stairs, Harry spotted a man standing there holding his head in his hands. Harry rushed forward to see if the man needed help.

"Are you alright, sir?" Harry asked with some concern.

"Alright? Alright? No. No, I am not alright." the man said, his face wincing a little.

"What do you need? Is there anything we can do to help?" Tali asked.

"What I need is to be freed. It won't let you go, though. Not once it gets its little hooks in you AGGGHH." The man screamed out and fell to one knee. "Yeah, that's it. Nothing like getting the master's whip to make you remember that you are a slave."

"Sir." Harry began calmly, kneeling down to the man. "I need you to tell me what is wrong with you if I am going to help you."

The man looked back at Harry with desperation in his eyes.

"I can't. If I try it will AGGH...it will...AGH!"

The man had tears in his eyes now from the pain. Harry became determined now and stared into the man's eyes. He tried to reach into his mind, but was stopped by a wall of vines. Harry consciousness was thrown out forcefully and Harry fell back onto his bottom.

_"What in the world was that?"_

"Garrus, Tali. I need to do something, but it will leave me and him vulnerable. I want you to take up positions and guard us." Harry ordered.

"What are you going to do, Potter?" Garrus asked while turning and watching the other way down the walkway.

"It would be too hard to explain. Just do as I said." Harry said, ejecting his wand out of his gauntlet holster and into his left hand. "And whatever happens, this stays among the team."

Harry pointed his wand at the man sitting in front of him. "Legilimens."

Harry's mind thrust into the man's. As Harry's consciousness flew toward the barrier of vines, Harry visualized himself as a burning blade. He impacted the choking mess of greenery and cut through it. Harry forced himself through, burning any of the vines that attempted to reach out and grab hold of him. After a few tense moments Harry felt he had broken through. Suddenly he was standing in Zhu's Hope except that it was covered in a thick green fog. Harry walked towards the large building in the center of the illusionary colony. As he drew closer, Harry could make out more detail of the building. It was a large prefab colony warehouse just like in the colony, but it was covered in thick vines. Several of the windows were punctured from the vines forcing their way in. Harry gritted his teeth. Something affected this man's mind like nothing Harry had seen before. Its defenses were simple and primitive, but they worked just like basic occlumency shields.

_"What in the galaxy could do this?"_

Harry made his way to the door into the building but it too was layered in vines. Harry sent a blasting hex at it which forced it open. Stepping inside Harry could hear whimpering coming from further inside. The hallway in the building was much longer on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Harry knew that this man's memories and thoughts were probably concealed inside the doors lining the hallways. Normally nothing would have stopped Harry from exploring these thoughts, but they were all covered in the vines too. Knowing from his own experience that the man's consciousness would be further in, Harry made his way down the hall following the whimpering. It grew louder and louder as Harry pressed forward. Finally he was standing before a door also covered in vines. Using the cutting charm, Harry removed the vines protecting this chamber. Once removed, he pushed his way inside.

Harry's eyes were immediately drawn to the source of the sobbing. The man whose mind Harry was exploring was suspended in the air by vines from each ankle and wrist. He looked at Harry and cried out.

"Please help me AGGGH!" The man screamed in agony as the vines pulled on his limbs. Harry cast the flame whip spell and lashed out at the vines. He cut the vines to either side of the man in two fast strikes. He quickly dismissed the charm and cast the levitation charm on the man's projection before it could hit the ground. Harry quickly ran to him and lowered him to the ground. The man looked at him and nearly started crying again.

"It is still here. I can feel it." he said

"It can't hurt you now. What is it?" Harry asked.

"It is the Thorian. It was an ancient, sentient plant the company that sponsored our colony, ExoGeni, was studying. It slowly gets into your mind and forces you to obey. If you don't…"

"I understand. Where is this plant?" Harry asked gently.

"Under the colony."

Harry suddenly knew why Fai Dan had them on useless errands. They needed to get back there and destroy this thing. He looked at the man.

"What's your name?" Harry asked.

"Ian. Ian Newstead." he said.

"OK, Ian. I know a way to get rid of all of these plants in here. Do you trust me?"

"Yes. You saved me."

"OK. Ian, what I need you to do is imagine fire all around the colony, a fire that only burns plants. Does that make sense? You must believe that it only burns plants for this to work. Can you do that?"

"I… I think so."

"Then give it a try."

Harry knelt there for a moment. Ian closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Soon Harry noticed the vines around them start to smolder. Soon small flames started dancing along them.

"Good, Ian." Harry cheered. "Keep it up!"

The sections of the vines soon started to fall from the ceilings and walls and create burning piles on the floor around them. Harry felt no heat from the flames, but he smelled the illusionary smoke wafting up from the immolated plants. Eventually the fires slowly died out and Harry saw that there weren't any of the strange vines anywhere is Ian's mindscape that he could see.

"It's gone." Ian said softly, opening his eyes. "It's finally gone. Thank you."

"You got rid of it, Ian. I just set you loose so you could." Harry said.

"You must save the others! They couldn't resist like I did." Ian begged.

"I'll do what I can, but I need to leave now so I can help them."

With that Harry closed his eyes and canceled the spell. When he opened them again he found himself staring at Ian sitting on the walkway. He heard Garrus from behind him.

"Finally. We need to get moving, Potter. I detect motion heading our direction." he said.

"Harry, what were you doing?" Tali asked.

"This man's mind was being controlled by something. I went in to find out what and free him." Harry said in a serious tone.

"You went into his mind? How? And what is that stick for?"

"Hard to explain." Harry said, pushing his wand back down into the slot in his gauntlet. "Let's just call it magic or something since it would be difficult to describe."

"Anymore magic tricks up your sleeve?" Garrus said. "Because we need to move and we have an unconscious civilian to carry back."

"No need." Harry said, casting a wandless innervate at him. Ian sat up suddenly and was wide awake.

_"Well, in for penny in for a pound." _Harry thought to himself.

"Ian, we need to get out of here and get back to the colony so get up and let's move. Garrus." Harry said, turning to the turian. "There's some kind of sentient organism under the settlement controlling the colonists. It enforces its will through pain like it did with Ian here. That's why we've been sent off on pointless errands. We have our orders. We assist the colony and we're going to do that by stopping this damn thing."

* * *

"Garrus, have you been able to clear up the signal at all?" Harry asked. He was staring off in the distance at the settlement from cover.

"No. There seems to be something jamming our communicators with the ship and Shepard's team. Can't get a clearer signal." Garrus said while working on his omni-tool.

"Tali?" Harry asked

"No, Harry. I'm sorry." She said.

"Ian." Harry turned to the man with them. "Would the Thorian creature know something's wrong now that I freed you from it?"

"It knew the moment you freed me. The others will be ready to kill anyone not under its control now."

"OK then. Without Shepard we go it alone. These are civilians, so I want to avoid casualties. I can bring them down one at a time without killing them, but I will need a sufficient distraction while I do it. Anyone have any ideas?"

"I do." Tali said. "We can set a charge off here at the mouth of the entranceway to the colony. That will draw them over here if they are on alert. If you can sneak behind them before that happens and start picking them off, that should buy you time while we hole up here and keep them off us."

"Garrus, anything to add?" Harry asked.

"I'll switch to concussive rounds and drop as many as I can without killing them." He said. "Tali and her shotgun here can take care of any unexpected surprises."

"Alright. Give me two minutes to get into position. I'll start doing what I do once I hear the charge go off." Harry said.

"You doing more of your magical biotic stuff?" Garrus asked.

"Something like that." Harry said while releasing his wand again. He tapped it on his head and felt the cold feeling slide down his body. Soon, Harry's body disappeared before his eyes.

"Keelah!" Tali said with surprise "Harry, are you there?"

Harry reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm right here, Tali. Remember I need two minutes to get into position." Harry said.

Harry noticed that Garrus and Ian were looking in the space he occupied with some shock on their faces. Harry couldn't see Tali's face well, but knew from the large glowing eyes behind her mask that she too was surprised.

_"I'll have to explain myself later, but that was funny."_

Harry started off towards the colony at a jog, but slowed as he neared it. Silencing charms worked best on a localized area or rune carved onto what you wanted muffled. Harry chose not to do that to his boots as the lack of sound would have drawn attention eventually. Harry slowly crept around the main building and spotted a few colonists pointing rifles in the direction he was coming from.

_"They are ready to attack anything that comes down that hallway."_

Harry moved further into the colony with his wand drawn, slowly peering around corners and stepping softly. All of the colonists seemed to be armed and watching in the direction of the main walkway. Harry moved slowly to the back of the group and stood behind the colonist furthest away from the entrance. It was the woman that Harry had seen working on the water line earlier. She was far enough back that she shouldn't draw any notice. Harry cast a silent stunner on her and she went limp. Harry caught her before she hit the ground and lowered her down quietly. There was another pair that was further back up, but Harry decided to wait for the signal. As if they had read his mind, Harry heard an explosion back towards the walkway quickly followed by gunfire. Harry launched two fast stunners at the pair he was watching and they fell to the ground. Harry started to backtrack towards his team, stunning the colonists as he went. Harry managed to drop four more colonists and the salarian trader he saw. Suddenly Harry's com became active.

"Can anyone read me? This is Shepard. Over." Harry heard Shepard's voice say over his com.

"Shepard, this is Garrus. What's your status? Over." Garrus replied.

"We have just taken down the geth frigate blocking any signal and are coming back to the colony. Be advised; the colonists are likely hostile. An unknown species is controlling them."

"We are aware of the situation with the colony, Commander. Potter is neutralizing the colonists with non-lethals right now. What's your ETA? Over."

"We are moving at top speed and are about fifteen minutes out. Neutralize the colonists and wait for us when you're done. Over."

"Shepard. Shepard. This is the Normandy." Joker's voice said over the com. "We got assailants of an unknown variety attacking the docking platform. Over."

Harry took out another two colonists during this time and was drawing closer to his team.

"Joker, are you able to hold? Over." Shepard replied.

"It looks like it, ma'am. Ashley is taking them down and Dr. T'Soni is throwing them around like rag dolls. Over."

"Good. Hold out until we can offer assistance. Over."

Harry stunned another man in the back, the varren hunter, and he dropped his large rifle to the ground before following suit. There were four more left and their attention was still on Garrus and Tali at the end of the hall. Suddenly, one of the men flew back as a concussive round slammed into his chest. Harry noticed he was out cold, but still breathing. He stunned the two on the left as Garrus took out the last on the right.

"All clear, Garrus. Over." Harry said over his com, finally able to break his silence.

Garrus, Tali, and Ian walked out from behind the pillars they were hiding. Garrus had his rifle slung over his shoulder and he was gently tossing an ammo block in the air and catching it.

"Potter, I noticed something odd when I switched out my ammo block for concussive rounds. Someone's been drawing funny little shapes on this one. You know, the one that was shooting lightning earlier."

"Are you curious or complaining, because I can take it back, if you want." Harry said.

"You'll do no such thing. I like old Sparky here." Garrus said, clutching the block greedily.

"Then can it." Harry said and raised his com. "Shepard, come in. The colony is clear. No casualties. Over."

Shepard's voice sounded over the com.

"Good work, Potter. Hold position. Joker, what's the Normandy's status? Over."

"The dock is clear commander. Ashley and Liara (I mean, "Dr. T'Soni") have cleared the docks. Might be picking little green man parts off the ceiling for a while though. Reminded me not to piss off an asari. Over."

A few minutes later Shepard, Wrex, and Kaidan came up the walkway. Harry, Garrus, Tali, and Ian had spent a few minutes moving the colonists in to better resting positions on the ground as several had crumpled in painful looking poses.

"OK, Potter. What have you found out?" Shepard asked.

"We have a civilian with us that is free from the Thorian's control. He gave us the intel about the colonists and we were able to neutralize the colonists we found." Harry said.

"You should ask him how he did that. It was interesting to say the least." Garrus said with a slightly amused voice.

"No need." Shepard said, giving Harry a knowing look before turning to Ian.

"Sir, do you know where this creature is?" She asked.

"Yes." Ian replied. "It's hidden in the ruins directly underneath the colony. There's a concealed entrance on the other side of the main building."

"Show me."

Ian led the group to the area he indicated and opened a panel next to the building. A lower section of the building moved aside to reveal a set of stone stairs leading down a distance before turning a corner.

Shepard looked back at the group before saying, "OK, team. Saren wanted to find this thing and I need to know why. Let's move."

The six of them walked down the stone steps into the underbelly of the old Prothean city. Harry felt the air getting warmer and more humid as the descended. After a time it also began to have the musty smell of turned earth. Harry figured that a sentient plant would probably like all of these conditions and knew they were on the right track. This was confirmed when he started to see some all too familiar vines on the walls and steps. They had descended about fifteen flights of steps when the stairs ended. Harry saw that they were surrounded by vines and green growth of various sizes. He also noticed curiously shaped green balls of a sort on the ground all around them.

The team moved through a stone archway as Shepard turned to address the group, "Alright, everyone. Spread out and look around. We need to find this plant and see if… You have got to be kidding me."

Harry turned to where Shepard was glancing and was stunned at what he saw. Suspended by a thick mass of vines above a large hole in the floor was the strangest plant Harry had ever seen (which was saying a lot for Harry). It appeared to have a large body of sorts being held by the vines and covered in a thick bark-like hide. At the front of it was a plant-like mockery of a face with what appeared to be holes that mimicked eye slits. Instead of a mouth, it had a set of thick, tentacle-like vines extending down to the floor where they stood. As Harry stared, mouth gapping, the body of the plant started to churn and convulse. Slime was seeping from its mouth and running down its tentacles. After a few short moments Harry saw feet extend from the mouth and a body slide out onto the floor. The person stood up and glared at the group. She appeared to be a green-skinned asari wearing black commando armor with a shotgun attached to her belt on her back.

"**Invaders, your every step is a transgression.**" The green-skinned asari said. "**A thousand feelers appraise you as meat; good to only dig or decompose. I speak for the old growth as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe.**"

Shepard looked up towards the gigantic mass and addressed it, "**You gave something to Saren, something I need.**"

"**Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. The old growth listened to flesh for the first time in a long cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing flesh that would tend the next cycle, flesh fairly given. The old growth sees the air you push as lies.**"

"Help us and we can punish Saren for what he tried to do to you."

"No. The old growth has heard your desire to destroy it, to free the flesh it has obtained. The old growth sees and hears all on this planet. Your aim is the same as Saren and the old growth will not allow it."

"Don't be stupid." Shepard said. "We have no desire to destroy you, but we will not allow to enslave these people any longer. Give us what you gave Saren and let the colonists free, and we will let you live. If you have heard and seen everything today, you know what we are capable of. Perhaps there is an arrangement that we can come to?"

The asari stared blankly at Harry a long time. Harry decided to take a chance and stared into the green asari's eyes. He felt nothing on the surface and he didn't dare to delve further. The mouth of the large plant mass emitted more slime and spittle before suddenly churning out another green asari. This new one stood next to the other and looked at the group before speaking in unison: "The old growth demands concessions before giving you what you want."

Shepard looked at the new asari with some surprise before responding.

"If it is reasonable."

Both green asaris looked at Harry as they responded, "The flesh shall be freed and we will give you what Saren sought if you allow this one to accompany you to find Saren."

* * *

**AN: **Have fun waiting.


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